Medical facts you were dying to learn about

I was doing some research this evening (surfing the Internet for lack of anything better to do) and came across the following medical trivia that I thought I would share with you. My long-time readers know how much I love trivia.

• Medical researchers contend that no disease ever identified has been completely eradicated. (No wonder there's so much obesity still left in the world.)
  

• The attachment of the human skin to muscles is what causes dimples. (I wonder if cellulite is caused by the same thing.)
  

• No one seems to know why people blush. (Silly, it's because you get red in the face when you're embarassed.)
  

• In 1972, a group of scientists reported that you could cure the common cold by freezing the big toe. (The government must have paid these guys big bucks to do a study on this. Do you think we got our money's worth? The next time I get a cold, I'm going to stick my foot into the freezer.)
  

• The number one cause of blindness in the United States is diabetes.

• The adult human heart weighs about ten ounces. (So, don't go breakin' my ten ounces.)
  

• People who laugh a lot are much healthier than those who don't. Dr. Lee Berk at the Loma Linda School of Public Health in California found that laughing lowers levels of stress hormones, and strengthens the immune system. Six-year-olds have it best - they laugh an average of 300 times a day. Adults only laugh 15 to 100 times a day. (I'm trying to help you people out here by giving you a few more laughs.)
  

• People who have a tough time handling the stress of money woes are twice as likely to develop severe gum disease, a new study finds. (Now you know why so many people wear dentures.)
  

• Between 25% to 33% of the population sneeze when they are exposed to light. (And I thought it was because of all the junk in the air.)
  

• Of the 206 bones in the average human adult's body, 106 are in the hands and feet. (54 in the hands and 52 in the feet)

• In 1815 French chemist Michael Eugene Chevreul realized the first link between diabetes and sugar metabolism when he discovered that the urine of a diabetic was identical to grape sugar.

• Men have more blood than women. Men have 1.5 gallons for men versus 0.875 gallons for women. (Now men finally have something to brag about. They can drink more alcohol than women because it becomes more diluted in their bodies with all the extra blood they have.)
  

• The first Band-Aid Brand Adhesive Bandages were three inches wide and eighteen inches long. You made your own bandage by cutting off as much as you needed.

• The human brain stops growing at the age of 18. (You can stop wondering why so many kids are in trouble these days.)
  

• In 1977, a 13 year old child found a tooth growing out of his left foot. (Maybe this kid stuck his foot in his mouth too many times and came out with a tooth -- like Little Jack Horner.)
  

• According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 18 million courses of antibiotics are prescribed for the common cold in the United States per year. Research shows that colds are caused by viruses. 50 million unnecessary antibiotics are prescribed for viral respiratory infections. (Doctors are prescribing antibiotics unnecessarily? No wonder so many people are developing immunities to certain antibiotics.)
  

• It takes an interaction of 72 different muscles to produce human speech. (How many brain cells does it take to produce meaningful human speech that is not laced with hatred or profanity?)
  

• The first known heart medicine was discovered in an English garden. In 1799, physician John Ferriar noted the effect of dried leaves of the common plant, digitalis purpurea, on heart action. Still used in heart medications, digitalis slows the pulse and increases the force of heart contractions and the amount of blood pumped per heartbeat.

• Blood is red only in the arteries after it has left the heart and is full of oxygen. Blood is a purplish, blue color in the veins as it returns to the heart, thanks to having picked up carbon dioxide and other wastes from the body's cells. In fact, your blood is red throughout only half your body. When cut, of course, the blood always appears red because it is instantly exposed to oxygen outside the body.

• During his or her lifetime, the average human will grow 590 miles of hair. (Does this mean that if you never cut your hair during your lifetime, you could be an oddity listed in the Guiness Book of Records?)
  

• The average human bladder can hold 13 ounces of liquid. (No wonder I always have to run to the bathroom after drinking a 16 ounce soft drink.)
  

• You lose enough dead skin cells in your lifetime to fill eight five-pound flour bags. (I think I've already filled my lifetime quota.)
  

• Your thumb is the same length as your nose. (For those folks out there who like to pick their noses, the thumb should be their digit of choice.)
  

• The Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland was a symbolic character for the hat makers in towns of the late 1800's. The large felt hats of the day had supports made out of lead. The lead caused an organic form of psychosis (brain damage) to develop in the hat makers causing them to be declared crazy.

• Although your system cannot digest gum like other foods, it won't be stuck inside of you forever. It comes out with other waste your body can't use. (Did the scientists have to do a little digging to come to this conclusion?)
  

• The substance that human blood resembles most closely in terms of chemical composition is sea water. (Some scientists say that all humans evolved from sea creatures so this stands to reason.)

I hope you all learned something new today from this post. You never know when you will be chosen to appear on Jeopardy and you should be ready. I know I am.