Health

Disturbing Facts About Our Bodies that People Probably Don’t Want to Know

1. Half Of Your Hand Strength Is Held In Your Pinkie Finger Did you ever make a pinkie promise with your friend when you were younger?… Trista - July 20, 2021

You have probably heard the phrase that your body is a temple. It is usually a statement people make when explaining why it’s crucial for you to take care of your body. For example, if a grandparent or parent is against you getting a tattoo or piercing. While we often don’t believe this phrase – or overthink about it, ultimately, it’s true. It’s essential to take care of our bodies. After all, if you don’t take care of it, you can often find yourself struggling internally, getting sick constantly, or feeling tired all of the time. You’ll also be at the doctor a lot.

Get ready to learn amazing facts about human bodies. In fact, your body is capable of many things. There is another phrase that runs around the world that states your body is a wonderland. It is probably just as accurate as saying it’s a temple. Think of it this way – every memory you’ve kept in your mind is essentially a part of your body. Without your body, you wouldn’t be able to get where you wanted to go, physically at least. While many wonderful things happen with our bodies, there are also many not-so-wonderful facts.

20. Menstrual Cramps Causes Your Womb To Feel Like It’s Suffocating

If you’re a female who has ever dealt with menstrual cramps, you probably agree with this statement. You’ve probably found yourself lying down in the fetal position after work or even spending extra time in the bathroom during work to manage the pain associated with period cramps. Most people take the time to explain that they feel pangs during their monthly cycle because the uterine lining is making its way out of your body, so it can make room for the lining that will take over the following month – sounds great, right? Well, this isn’t the full nitty-gritty story when it comes to menstrual cramps.

One of the best ways to describe the reason for the painful cramping and, honestly, really put it into perspective when it comes to your feminine body is that your womb feels like it is suffocating during this process. Your womb needs to contract to get the uterine lining out, which takes away its natural structure. In fact, the womb can contract so tightly that oxygen can’t reach its blood vessels. In return, your brain receives a signal from your body saying it’s in pain and something is wrong. Of course, the next part of the process is for more contractions to unfold because the process increases your production of chemicals called prostaglandins. Good grief!

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19. Your Stomach Blushes When You Blush

If you have ever seen the Disney movie “Snow White,” you have heard about one of the little seven dwarfs known as “Bashful”. Bashful is prone to blushing and hiding behind and twirling his beard when feeling embarrassed. His face is known to become a shade of red when he is given a compliment or makes a mistake. It makes not only him known as the romantic one of the seven but also the most self-conscious. Finally, it’s how he was given his name. Bashful’s body might not work like ours in the same sense because, well, he is a fictional character.

However, this doesn’t mean that he doesn’t make an excellent example for this stomach-turning fact. Think of how often Bashful’s stomach would have turned a bright shade of red throughout the movie. If you want to know the number, all you need to do is watch “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” and count how many times his face turns red because every time you blush, your stomach does the same. It is because blood rushes to the skin of your face. However, it also runs to the lining of your stomach. Yes, this might be the most adorable fact on the list.

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18. It’s Been Proven You Can Hear When In A Vegetative State

You have probably heard about the debate on whether people can hear when they are in a vegetative state. It’s been a hot topic for decades, with some people coming out of a coma or a vegetative state and state that they could hear everything going on while others state that they couldn’t remember or couldn’t hear. One such story that discusses the proof of hearing while in a coma comes from a man named Richard Marsh. At the time, he was 60 years old and was in the intensive care unit hooked up to a ventilator after suffering a stroke.

For days, Richard laid in a vegetative state as doctors observed and assessed his health and strength. Because the doctors believed that Richard lacked consciousness and physical feeling, they discussed the possibility of pulling the plug with his family. His wife, Lili, though devastated, didn’t want her husband to suffer in any way. Fortunately, the next day, the doctors noticed that Richard could communicate through blinking. Over time, doctors realized that Richard had locked-in syndrome and was fully conscious, meaning he could hear and feel but not move or talk. Richard went on to make a full recovery.

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17. In A Decade, You Will Have A Brand New Skeleton

You might have never thought about this before, but your skeleton grows throughout your lifetime. You probably never really focused on it once you became an adult or felt you stopped growing. Maybe you never thought of it much as a child either. However, think about how tiny babies are and then how people develop over their lifespans. It’s easy to notice that bones grow so people can thrive. Nevertheless, what people don’t see is that every ten years, even after you’ve become an adult, your skeleton continues to change.

The truth of this is that the cells of your skeletal system are constantly regenerating. In fact, by this time in 10 years, every bone in your body at this moment will have nearly completely restored. Of course, like most factors with your body, as you age, the regeneration process tends to slow down. Therefore, not every single cell of your skeleton may complete this process in a decade. It all depends on your age. Furthermore, the slower regeneration is a reason why bones become brittle as you grow older.

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16. Lactating After Giving Birth Happens In More Than One Location On The Body

It’s no secret. By the end of this article, you might feel that a woman’s body has more stomach-turning facts than a man’s body. This might seem like a true statement after reading this next fact. However, it’s important to remember that the human body simply has many facts you wish you didn’t know. For example, most people know that women tend to lactate from their nipples after giving birth due to producing milk for the baby. Nevertheless, most people don’t know that women can also lactate from their armpits.

It’s a condition known as ectopic axillary breast tissue and happens because breasts are stretched out beyond their usual boundaries, such as right into the armpit. The trick of this factor is to understand that while pregnancy causes lactating from the breasts, it does not cause your armpits to lactate. The reality is that the milk simply travels up to the armpit when the baby is getting a drink. Other people state that they lactate from the pores in their armpit. If you have never noticed this and are breastfeeding now, take time to see if you’re one of these lucky women.

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15. If You Want To Record Your Height, Do It In The Morning

You might have heard this before – that you are taller in the morning than you are at night. Fortunately, at least for some of you, this is true! This is less a stomach-turning fact and probably more interesting to people who are a bit on the shorter side. Unfortunately, you will not be able to grow inches taller by the morning. However, you can gain a fraction of an inch – enough to maybe put you closer to 5 ½ than a flat 5 feet.

Nevertheless, the biggest question regarding this fact is: Why are you a bit taller when you wake up in the morning? The truth is that as you work and complete your daily activities, you are putting pressure on the cartilage in your spine. In response, your spine compresses a fraction of an inch, which causes you to lose a fraction of an inch in height. Then, when you sleep and relaxed, the pressure releases, and you gain your full height again.

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14. Fatal Insomnia Runs In Families

If you are a horror movie buff, your mind probably goes to images of Freddy Krueger. Yes, the guy who steps into a person’s nightmares in Wes Craven’s “Nightmare on Elm Street” series. However, this fatal insomnia has nothing to do with people trying to stay up, so they don’t meet Freddy. It has to do with not being able to sleep for months. In fact, people usually start to find themselves in a waking coma until they meet their last day on earth. Yes, this might seem like an unreal stomach-turning fact, but it’s entirely accurate and, while rare, is known to happen.

Take a moment to think about all those times that the sandman hasn’t stopped by your house at night, and you tossed and turned, unable to sleep. It is a horrible feeling, isn’t it? Well, think of people dealing with this feeling for months. It’s a rare genetic degenerative brain disorder that is known as Fatal Familial Insomnia. It usually starts mild but then progresses to mental deterioration, physical deterioration, and then death. When it runs in families, it tends to occur when someone is middle-aged. It’s also known as a prion disorder, showing itself as another stomach-turning fact a bit down on the list.

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13. Classic Symptoms Of Rabies Are Almost Always Fatal

Rabies is a disease that humans can receive through infected animals or saliva. The most popular way of transmitting this virus is through a bite, which is why people usually get rabies vaccines for their companion animals, especially if they spend a lot of time outside. You have probably heard about rabies throughout your life, especially if you’re a “Cujo” fan. However, dogs are not the animals you need to watch when it comes to rabies. It’s the skunks, foxes, bats, and raccoons that need to be the focus as they are the ones who usually carry rabies.

It’s well-known that once you are bitten by an animal that either shows rabies or could have it, you get checked out with the doctor. The reason for this is because the sooner you are treated for rabies, meaning before the symptoms show up, the better chance you have of continuing your life for a long time. However, some people tend to wait until they start to feel the most common symptoms: fear of water, confusion, foaming at the mouth, and agitation. The trouble with this is that once these symptoms come, they’re nearly always fatal. Fewer than 20 cases are documented of humans surviving once these symptoms hit.

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12. A Gnat Turned Into A Maggot For One Teen

No matter where you live, when the weather becomes warmer, you start to see many more bugs. Some people enjoy seeing these creatures, but other people would rather not see them ever. After reading about this stomach-turning fact, you will want all gnats to stay away from your body – forever. The story starts with a 16-year-old boy who lived in Arkansas. It was hot outside, and he was used to seeing gnats flying around him, so he never gave swatting one away from his eye a second thought.

Two weeks later, he noticed that he couldn’t see as well as he used to out of one eye. He noticed that a large black dot partially blinded him in the middle of his vision. He went to the doctor and found out that a gnat had laid eggs in his eye, which caused something to start feeding off his retinal tissue. Doctors decided to look into this and found a maggot burrowing into his eye. Fortunately, they were able to remove it and saved his vision.

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11. The Real Reason To Why You Get A Sunburn

The real reason why a sunburn happens is a stomach-turning fact. It will probably make you run to the sunscreen every time you spend even a short amount of time out in the hot sun. Usually, people think that a sunburn happens because the sun is, well, scorching, even when it hits your skin from millions of miles away. However, this isn’t exactly true. While it is part of the reason, the main reason you receive a sunburn is that skin cells are trying to kill themselves before they mutate. The truth is that melanin produced by cells that live within our skin tends to dissipate as it becomes hot.

It is also known to absorb ultraviolet light. To give you a better picture of what truly happens, assistant professor of dermatology, Gary Chuang can explain. “Melanin is a natural sunscreen. When your body senses sun damage, what it does is it starts sending out melanin into surrounding cells and tries to protect them and shield them from getting more damage.” Therefore, when the ultraviolet light from the sun hits our skin, it starts to damage the cellular DNA. In turn, it starts to become mutated. To stop this from happening, the cells begin to kill themselves. That way, we have a less likely chance of developing skin cancer.

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10. There Are Single-Celled Organism That Will Eat Your Brain

No, these single-celled organisms are not known as zombies; you are not about to read how “Night of the Living Dead” could happen in the world. These single-celled organisms are known as the naegleria flwleri. They are microscopic, and they eat parts of your brain. These things are commonly found in healthy people in the Americas who suffered a tragic and sudden death caused by this organism. Fortunately, this doesn’t happen often, but it has happened, and it’s made the list of stomach-turning facts you wish you didn’t know about your body.

The naegleria is often found in ponds, warm lakes, rock pits, mud puddles, and slow-flowing rivers. However, you might find them in untreated swimming pools and untreated water wells. Zombies can be in hot springs, aquariums, dust, soil, and thermally polluted water. However, the amoebas cannot live in south water or properly treated water places, whether swimming pools or municipal water. This organism usually eats bacteria. However, what happens when it makes its way through a human’s nasal cavity? It will start to devour the brain matter. Avoid dunking your head in untreated water.

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9. Mites Can Live On The Human Eyelash

You have heard about a tiny insect called a mite. They tend to be so small that they are nearly impossible to see. In fact, mites are almost invisible. Some people will state that they benefit the world as they live in soil and aren’t dangerous to humans or animals. Unfortunately, this isn’t exactly true. Some mites can cause allergies and mites that can live on humans and cause problems.

Fortunately, not all species of mites can live on humans. The two types of mites that can live on humans are the Demodex folliculorum and Demodex Brevis. Like most mites, they are microscopic. They live on humans because they feed off of dead skin cells. They can also travel from one person to the next, as long as the humans have close contact or share things like makeup or sunglasses. One stomach-turning fact about these mites is that they can live on your eyelashes, and you won’t even know it – until they become overcrowded, which is when skin problems occur.

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8. Humans Can Have Prion Disease For Up To 50 Years And Not Know It

If you were alive during the early 2000s, you might remember something called Mad Cow Disease, which hit the United States and British beef market pretty hard. In fact, many people stopped eating beef during this time because they were afraid of getting Mad Cow Disease. It happens when you eat tainted beef that can cause a brain disorder known as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Unfortunately, this disease is untreatable and also known to be fatal. What is scary to think about – and stomach-turning – is that this disease can live in you for 50 years.

The biggest problem is that you won’t have any symptoms, nothing to lead you or a professional to believe that you might have this disease or another variant of mad cow disease. One reason is that this is a prion disease. Basically, it is a neurodegenerative disorder that is caused by abnormally folded proteins in the brain. When the disease takes hold of your brain, it will affect your behavior, movement, and memory. Usually, the first signs of this disease, even 50 years later, are hallucinations and depression. From there, people usually develop dementia and lose their motor control.

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7. The Body Of The Fetus Is Usually Covered By A Certain Type Of Hair In Utero

Scientists and other professionals have proven that some pretty strange things start to happen to the human body prior to birth. That’s right. Even a fetus makes this list as they have their own facts that will make your stomach turn. However, it’s also for good reason. For instance, there is a type of hair that tends to cover the body of the fetus. While this hair is usually not noticed during the pregnancy, it’s a softer hair that will cover the whole fetus, and it’s called lanugo.

This hair tends to show up on the fetus about five months after gestation. It’s not a bad thing, so if you ever notice it or are at this point in your pregnancy now, there is nothing to worry about. It is actually there to help protect the fetus against chafing. Lanugo usually falls off the fetus around the 8-month mark as it is absorbed into the amniotic fluid. Of course, this does mean that the fetus drinks it. However, there is a chance that a fetus is born with the lanugo hair still present on their bodies.

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6. It Is Possible To Be Allergic To Water

There are many things that a person can be allergic to, such as chocolate or dairy. People can also be allergic to dust or struggle with what is commonly known as seasonal allergies. These are common facts that people don’t usually think about and wouldn’t make this list of stomach-turning points. However, when you start looking into the fact that some people are allergic to water, it becomes a little more stomach-turning because, well, there are many reasons, but number one is you need water to live.

The second part of why being allergic to water makes this list is that aquagenic urticaria can happen while rare. It’s a burning and itching that occurs when someone comes into contact with water. If someone has this allergy, they can not only be set off by the shower or swimming pool but even rain and snow. Basically, anything that has water or is made up of water. Yes, this also means their own tears. Because research is limited, not much is known about this disease, but most people have it just deal with it because they need water.

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5. Children Tend To Grow Their Quickest In The Summer Months

It’s probably time to take a little break from the grossest stomach-turning facts that you have ever read and focus more on something that makes you smile. That goes double if you have little mini-me’s running around your house as you read. You know that children tend to grow quickly, but did you know that they develop their fastest during the warm summer months? That’s right, as soon as the temperature outside starts to spike, so do your children. Of course, you probably won’t notice too much unless you measure the height of your kids often because it is usually a slow, steady growth.

In fact, an associate professor of pediatrics at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital in Nashville, Joseph Gigante, discusses that it is a gradual growth. However, it is also more constant than their gradual growing throughout the colder months of the year. Dr. Gigante told CNN about the topic. He said, “Although we don’t have a good explanation for it, children seem to grow fastest in the summer and slowest in the fall.” Therefore, there is no stomach-turning reason why this happens. So far, it simply just does. You can try it yourself. Take your child’s height right now and then again when it starts to get colder, and see how much they grew in these few months!

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4. Scars That Healed Opened Back-Up Due To Scurvy

If you remember anything from history class, it’s probably something about an awful disease that killed thousands of people – enter scurvy. This disease was common during the 18th century, especially on ships. In fact, you might have thought about the old pirate adventures when you saw the term. A deficiency causes scurvy in vitamin C, which happens when people don’t get enough fruits and vegetables. Unfortunately, it took several decades to make this connection, so many people contracted the disease.

To make this disease more stomach-turning, it affects the body’s ability to produce collagen. Therefore, tissue and cartilage in your body begin to break down. When this happens, bones that were once broken but then healed could fail again. However, the symptoms of scurvy didn’t stop there as it also made its way to the skin. Yes, wounds that had once closed and healed would reopen and start to bleed again. People also dealt with bleeding gums and losing their teeth. I am pretty sure you are now noticing how much vitamin C you have had recently…

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3. Even Though Bones Break, They Are Stronger Than Steel

What? Do you need to read that again? Yes, even though your bones break, they are known to be stronger than steel. It is probably hard to believe, especially if you have lived through a broken bone or two. You often feel that they break pretty easily because, well, you can jump off the back of a school bus and break an ankle. You can also slide down the stairs and break a leg. It’s all possible, and this would make you think that they’re not stronger than something like steel, but it’s true. Trust it. We’re not trying to pull your leg.

In fact, your bones are so strong that Discover Magazine is noted for saying, “ounce for ounce, our bones are stronger than steel.” The truth of the matter is, or the reason why this saying came to be, is because your bone has a greater pressure tolerance than the steel rod of the same width as your bone. Therefore, you have a wider steel rod than your bone, the saying won’t stand its ground, and the steel will be stronger than your bone. Furthermore, the strongest bone you have in your body is your femur, which can support up to 30 times the weight of an average human!

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2. The Next Time You Have Hiccups, Try A Rectal Massage

Yes, you probably want to re-read that if you haven’t already. However, you also want to realize that this is genuinely a stomach-turning fact. There is a proven scientific cure for hiccups, and, no, it is not holding your breath or drinking water. If you have ever tried these two factors, you have probably realized that they don’t usually work. However, what does work is receiving a rectal massage. How did the doctors find out about this cure? Well, when one 60-year-old man’s hiccups wouldn’t disappear, they tried this unusual method, and it worked.

Now, hiccups are usually minor inconveniences because we swallow air too quickly. However, there are stories out there that discuss how people have had hiccups for hours, days, even years. There are many tales about how people tried to get rid of these hiccups. However, few have read a medical journal that discussed the massage. As the journal states about the 60-year-old, “Digital rectal massage was then performed, resulting in abrupt cessation of the hiccups.” And yes, it worked again when his hiccups returned. So the next time you have hiccups, and you feel that they won’t go away, you have this stomach-turning fact to think about.

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1. Half Of Your Hand Strength Is Held In Your Pinkie Finger

Did you ever make a pinkie promise with your friend when you were younger? After reading this fact about your body, you will probably think those promises were a little stronger than you initially thought. Your pinkie finger looks like the weakest finger on your hand. Nevertheless, it holds at least half of the strength of your whole hand. Think about how you sometimes carry groceries. Come on. We’ve all been there. You are trying to carry in as many bags as you can, and sometimes you realize that your pinkie finger or your smaller two fingers can hold more than your larger two fingers.

That is because they can, due to the strength of your little pinkie. The reason for this is because the strength of your pinkie grows with everything you do with it, even though you don’t realize it. For example, your pinkie will help your thumb pinch. It constantly supports your other fingers when trying to do something, even though it is much smaller. A hand therapist at National Rehabilitation Hospital in Washington, Laurie Rogers, told The New York Times that losing your pinkie would mean a lot. She said, “You’d lose 50 percent of your hand strength.” That’s a lot of strength to lose for a small part of your hand!

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