The Oddities of our Bodies

Our Bodies do Some Strange Things

Did you know there is a eye disease that causes your eyeball to explode? Now you do, this eye disease is called Fuchs’ Corneal Dystrophy, it is passed on genetically and is thankfully only experienced by 1% of the population. Your stomach growling is actually your stomach muscles and digestive juices preparing to do their job, sidenote: eating actually boosts your metabolism.

Hypnic Jerk

Sometimes just as I am drifting off to sleep, my body will violently jerk. It always scares me and I decided to look into what causes it. The exact reason hypnic jerks happen is not clear, however, it is thought to occur when one part of your brain tries to fall asleep faster than a different part. Doing things that stimulate you before you go to bed, anxiety, and sleep deprivation may make hypnic jerks more frequent. Going to sleep and waking up are complex processes, and sometimes our brain gets stuck while trying to achieve deep sleep.

Bacteria and Body Odor

Sweat doesn't cause body odor on its own. Our armpits and groin area get smelly because the oily substance that we sweat from there (which is made up of salt and water) attracts bacteria. When the bacteria feeds on the sweat it produces body odor.

Hand Dominance

About 10% of the population is left handed, but there has yet to be any clear scientific evidence as to why this occurs. Environmental factors influencing a hand preference use to be the accepted theory, not it is believed that genetics likely play a role, but little is known about the clear reason behind hand dominance. I read somewhere once that right handed people live longer than left handed people (sadly, I have no idea where I read it).

Placebo Effect

It is unknown why the placebo effect works, but it does. Scientists have studied the area of the brain that is believed to be responsible for the placebo effect, but the why behind the effect is still a mystery. I am a firm believer that if it works, it works and try not to question anything that people use to heal themselves. The power of believing in something, is apparently quite well.....powerful.

Sudden Unexplained Nocturnal Death Syndrome

People often hope they die peacefully in their sleep, but this sounds terrifying. If you experience a myocardial infarct while you are sleeping, it is sometimes paired with a type of sleep paralysis. So you would be aware of the pain but unable to move, if your cardiac muscles are paralyzed and you experience a myocardial infarct, you die.

A New Internal Organ: Mesentery

I could not find a date on the article so I am unsure when it was discovered. Mesentery plays a role in the digestive system, what role it plays in still unknown. There are actually 79 internal organs in the human body, which is way higher of a number than I was aware of, neat!

Rain and Bad Weather Might Actually Make Your Joints Ache

Ever heard anyone tell you they knew rain was coming because their _______ hurt? There may actually be some validity to this. Atmospheric pressure may be the real culprit here, causing expansion of your body tissue, which can lead to swelling/inflammation. Drops in temperature may also play a role in this odd, but seemingly valid weather prediction method.