The Quirks of Our Body

Have you ever wondered why our body does the things it does? Like, for example, “goose bumps” – why do we get them? (I always wondered why they’re even called “goose bumps” but that’s an entirely different topic for an entirely different type of blog)  Or, why do we cry when we’re laughing at something we find super hilarious?  I usually chalk it up to “it’s just how we work”, but it seems there actually is scientific reasoning behind all these baffling body-quirks and thanks to my favorite stop for blog-topics, I now know the reasons (which means you now know too!).  The Odd Body, Explained by Ben Cramer lists thirteen of the strange, odd things our bodies do and explains why we react to them. I chose four out of the thirteen to talk about simply for length’s sake, but I hope you’ll check out the article in its entirety – it’s amusing and rather helpful if you ever catch yourself cursing the likes of onions for their foul, tear-inducing odor or if you simply want to know why you snap, crackle, and pop every time bend your knees. 

Jennifer’s Picks:

#1: “What causes goose bumps?” – Goose bumps…we can’t really escape the little bumps that appear when our skin meets freezing temperatures or if something frightens us and causes our hair to stand on end, but what causes our skin to react in this manner?  Something rather small, surprisingly enough – It’s a “tiny muscle at the base of each body hair” (Cramer: Pg.1) that contracts which causes our skin to form ‘goose bumps”.  It is an evolutionary trait that we never evolved away from, which leaves me to wonder – what would life be like without goose bumps? Would we know that our body is trying to retain its heat or that a predator is silently stalking us without our little warning system if goose bumps were no longer a part of our evolutionary makeup?

 

#2: “Why does chopping onions make you tear up?” – Ugh, I picked this number because I’m one of the mass majority who suffers (it’s unbearably miserable, mind you) from the attack of a chopped onion’s tear-inducing stink.  I usually end up running from the kitchen with a half chopped onion on my cutting board, but fear not, there is a solution and a reason behind this veggie’s poor behavior! The onion defends itself from invaders by releasing a gas called propanethial sulfoxide – a noxious substance which causes your brain to register that your eyes are under attack and in need of tears to flush out the attacker.  The bad news? The more you chop, the more gas is released. The end result: more tears start to flow down your face, which is why you become bleary-eyed before you can finish chopping.  The good news? Stick that pesky onion into the freezer to chill out.  The cold will cause the release of the onion’s enzymes to slow and allow you to chop with clear vision. Hurray an end to my unwanted tears (and, hopefully, your unwanted tears as well)!

 

#5: “What makes your eyelid twitch?” – Has this ever happened to you? It’s annoying and I always feel like I have some kind of invisible, mischief making, creature tugging on my eyelid, but alas it’s not a figment of my imagination, it really is a condition called eyelid myokymia. As Cramer points out, there isn’t a lot known about eye twitches in general, but it’s speculated that this bothersome twitch is probably caused by a “misfiring of a nerve” (Cramer: Pg. 1).  But what the medical/science community does know, are the causes for your eye twitches.  They’ve linked fatigue, stress, caffeine intake, eyestrain, poor nutrition, excessive alcohol intake, and allergies to the eye twitch.  So, how can you avoid having to deal with one eyelid wiggling about in protest?  Start by getting more rest, distress after a day where you’d truly like to pull your hair out, and drink less coffee…that last part is a tough one for me, hopefully it’s not for you!

 

#13: “Why does your side hurt sometimes when you laugh really hard?” – This one made me smile slightly at remembered side-splitting antics and I always wondered why (when I was having such a good time) my body would react to my moment of jovial bliss by sending a stitch to my side?  Here’s the reason why: an exertion of the diaphragm. Yep, that’s it…when you laugh so hard you go into silent mode and have to bend over to relieve your side of a tightening sensation, you’ve just exerted your diaphragm, much like you would after a long run.  Basically, according to Robert Gotlin, D.O. (a sports physician), “when you laugh really hard, you’re sucking in a lot of air, which fills the lungs and pushes down on the diaphragm while the abdominal muscles are also constricting and pushing up on the diaphragm” (Cramer: Pg. 3) thusly causing what we affectionately call a “stitch”.  So how do we keep the stitch from forming?  Cramer suggests that we attempt to break up our fit of laughter with slow, deep breaths…But, I say, laugh till your side aches! It’s completely worth the stitch!           

Comments

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No more tear while chopping onions. Chop them under cold water.

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