15 Amazing Facts about the Human Body

15 Amazing Facts About the Human Body

Your body is the most complex biological mechanism on earth, and it consists of several incredible processes, as well as some surprises that you may not know about!

Number 1: Only 50% of Your Cells Are Human It’s been a common belief that about 1 in 10 of the cells in your body are actually human. The rest are made up of microbes that live on you, and inside of you! They consist of bacteria and viruses, along with other micro-organisms. However, recent studies suggest that the ratio is closer to 50/50!

Number 2: Mites Live In Your Eyelashes These creepy, microscopic creatures live in the hair follicles and pores of your face, and particularly love eyelashes, where they feed on oils and dead skin cells. They like to come out at night to mate and reproduce. However, if they multiply too much, they can cause skin and eye irritation.

Number 3: You Are Hairier Than a Gorilla Most people have about 5 million hair follicles on their bodies. That’s about 3 times more than a gorilla! The difference is that human body hair is a lot finer, therefore it is a lot less noticeable. If you have excessive body hair, however, you’ll be pleased to know that it has been linked to a higher intellect.

Number 4: Earwax Means Good Ear Health While many people find earwax to be disgusting, it’s actually a very important part of your ear’s defense system. It protects the delicate inner ear from bacteria, fungus, dirt and even insects. It also cleans and lubricates the ear canal. However, excessive earwax needs to be addressed.

Number 5: Your Middle Finger Nail Grows the Fastest According to research, nail growth is related to the length of the finger - with the longest fingers growing nails the fastest, and shortest the slowest. In addition, the nail on the middle finger of your DOMINANT HAND grows the fastest of all!

Number 6: The Brain Itself Cannot Feel Pain While the brain might be the pain center when you hurt yourself, the brain itself does not have pain receptors and cannot feel pain. However, the brain is surrounded by lots of tissues, nerves and blood vessels that ARE receptive to pain, and can give you a pounding headache nonetheless.

Number 7: Some Tumors Can Grow Teeth A certain type of tumor, called a teratoma, is made up of cysts that contain embryonic cell layers. Teratomas have been reported to contain hair, teeth, bone, and on rare occasions eyes, hands, feet and other limbs.

Number 8: You have a Unique Smell Unless you are an identical twin, as part of that smell is determined by genetics, you have a unique smell. However, your individual smell is also largely due to dietary and environmental factors. Personal hygiene products play a role in creating your unique scent as well.

Number 9: You Shed 50 To 100 Hairs Every Day Your pet isn't the only one in your house that sheds! The average human scalp has 100,000 hairs, and the lifespan of a human hair is about 3 to 7 years. Every day you lose about 50-100 strands of hair. But don’t worry, you need to lose over 50% of your scalp hairs before it becomes apparent to others.

Number 10: Your Feet Can Produce Over a Pint of Sweat a Day Each of your feet has at least 250,000 sweat glands, and is capable of producing more than a pint of sweat per day. However, the sweat itself does not make your feet stink. The bad odor is actually caused by bacteria on the skin that thrive in sweaty conditions.

Number 11: If Saliva Cannot Dissolve Something, You Cannot Taste it In order for foods, or anything else, to have a taste, chemicals from the substance must be dissolved by saliva. Try it for yourself! Dry off your tongue and then taste something.

Number 12: Your Body Fights off Cancer Cells Throughout Your Life Your immune system kills off at least one “would-be cancerous cell” every day. This gets compromised when the immune system becomes weak, ineffective or the cancer cells are developing at such a high rate, that the body cannot kill the cells fast enough.

Number 13: Your Nose and Ears Keep Growing Bones stop growing shortly after puberty, and muscle and fat cell division decreases as you age. But cartilage in your ears and nose continues to grow until the day you die. Not only does cartilage grow, the earlobes also elongate from gravity.

Number 14: You Produce 1 to 3 Pints of Gas per Day We produce far more gas than we realize! That’s because most of it actually doesn’t smell. The average person farts (or releases gas) about 14 times a day, and that can add up to between 1 and 3 pints of gas per day. Which means that you will release about half a million farts in your lifetime!

Number 15: By the age of 60, You’ll Lose About Half of Your Taste Buds Older individuals tend to lose their ability to taste, and many find that they need much more intense flavoring in order to be able to fully appreciate a dish. Maybe you shouldn’t trust grandma’s cooking after all?! What do you find the most interesting about the human body? Let us know in the comments below!