5 AMAZING FACTS ABOUT THE HUMAN BODY

The human body is an amazing and complex machine. Did you know that we have 100,000 miles of blood vessels and nearly 40 trillion microbial cells in our bodies? Or that a baby's eyes are the same size at three months old as they are in adulthood? Much of the workings of the human body remain a mystery. However, here are five fascinating facts about the human body that we are aware of.
 

1. The brain can survive for several minutes without oxygen.

The brain requires oxygen to function properly. When there is a lack of oxygen, which is known as hypoxia, brain cells begin to die in less than five minutes. However, there have been cases where people have lived longer under certain conditions. The cold appears to be a factor. When a person's body temperature falls below 95 degrees Fahrenheit, their metabolism slows and their oxygen requirements decrease. Experts believe this is why children have survived longer than 15 minutes in freezing water or people have survived avalanches.

2. The size of both lungs is not the same.

Although lung capacity varies with age, gender, size, and health, the maximum amount of air that a lung can store is six liters. They are responsible for removing carbon dioxide from our blood and cells and supplying our bloodstream with oxygen. An average individual breathes 17,000 times every day, inhaling 13 pints of air per minute.

Our right lung has three lobes (or sections), whereas our left has only two. To accommodate the heart, the left lung is also slightly smaller. If we stretched our lungs out, they would cover an area roughly the size of a tennis court.

3. The Skin Is The Body's Largest Organ

An adult human's skin would weigh between six and nine pounds and cover an average area of 22 square feet if you summed it all up. Three layers of skin cover our bodies, each with a distinct function.

• The Epidermis: This is the visible top layer of the skin that is constantly shed and renewed.

• The Dermis: This is the middle and thickest layer, which contains blood vessels, hair follicles, nerves, and sweat/oil glands.

• Hypodermis: The deepest layer, which is mostly made up of subcutaneous fat.

Our skin, which renews itself every 28 days, protects us in a variety of ways. It acts as a barrier against germs and bacteria and aids in the regulation of body temperature. It also allows us to perceive touch, pain, heat, and cold. The thickness of our skin varies throughout our bodies, with the thinnest skin on our eyelids (.05 mm thick) and the thickest on our palms and soles of our feet (1.5 mm thick).

4. Babies have 300 bones, but adults only have 206.

Babies are born with 300 bones, but this number does not last. Many of their bones are made of cartilage, which is not as hard as bone. One reason is that softer bones are more malleable, allowing birth. Much of their cartilage is replaced by bone over time, and some of these fuses together, leaving them with 206 bones by adulthood. Although there is significant bone change early in life, other changes occur throughout a human's life cycle. Our skeleton replaces itself every ten years, thanks to a process known as remodeling. Surprisingly, our bones store 99 percent of the calcium in our bodies.

5. Many Body Parts Can Repair Themselves.

Our bodies are capable of healing in a variety of ways. Bones can heal themselves; skin constantly replaces itself; the brain can make new connections thanks to neuroplasticity; and lungs can regenerate healthy cells when someone quits smoking. However, the liver has truly amazing self-repair capabilities. It is capable of regeneration. After surgery, the liver can regenerate two-thirds of its volume in as little as a few weeks.