Happy World Health day! 

Today is a day to celebrate advancements and amazing strides made in the global health community, while leading the fight to increase these advancements and stay motivated to help even more people live healthy lives. 

Let's also celebrate our unity in having a human body! If that sounds weird, forget I said anything and just read these crazy and weird health facts in celebratation of UN World Health day!

A few chuckles and a few learning moments never hurt nobody.  

1) Your brain weighs three pounds

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Next time you pick up your fancy 10-pound weights at the gym, or any heavy object, remember that the human brain makes up 3 of those pounds (1,300 to 1,400 grams). For comparison, an elephant’s brain weighs over 13 pounds (6,000 grams), and a cat’s brain weighs just 0.06 pounds (30 grams).   

2) You are taller in the morning than in the evening

On average humans are about 1 cm taller upon waking up in the morning than in the evening. Throughout the day, joint capsules lose some of their fluid and the connective tissues around the joints tends to become compressed from activity--all while countering the effects of gravity (basically this process "makes you shorter").

3) Not only do lots of people eat their boogers, but it may actually be good for you

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Hungry for a late night snack? Care to munch on some boogers? It’s possible that eating your boogers may actually help your immune system because mucus is already a part of your body’s immune response. Biochemist, Scott Napper even did some research on this and found it to be true. WARNING: Eat at your own risk. 

4) Complications in pregnancy and childbirth are the second leading killer of adolescent girls in developing countries

Every day, across the global community, 20,000 girls under the age of 18 give birth. In part because many become pregnant before they are physically mature, many girls and women die annually of causes related to pregnancy and childbirth.  

5) There may be more bacteria in your mouth than there are people in the world

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Bacteria thinks your mouth is bae! But don’t worry, there’s something to smile about: they are mostly the good kind of bacteria!

6) Did you know that you get a new stomach lining every three to four days?

Yeah! And if you didn’t have a stomach lining you could say goodbye to eating, because your stomach would also be gone!

Bonus Fact: did you know your stomach lining is cabable of absorbing a razor blade?

7) Humans shed about 600,000 particles of skin every hour

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Sorry if you were eating while reading this! That works out to approximately more than 1 pound each year, and the average person will shed about 110-112 pounds of skin by the age of 70!

8) Good ole’ beer boosts the immune system!

#Turnip Studies have shown that people who regularly drink in moderation have a lowered risk of death and a stronger response to vaccinations (an increase in immune system health)!

Writer’s note: Please drink in moderation. Being an annoying gobbling turkey at the bar does not increase health immunity (or your popularity)!

9) You may be a better liar when your bladder is full

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It’s the inhibitory spillover effect, controlling the bladder makes for a better liar because you are concentrated on crossing your legs and doing the pee-pee dance rather than trying to persuade someone you're telling the truth!

Say what? Yeah. There’s even a study all about it.

10) If you ever lose part of your liver it will grow back

Don’t worry, be happy! Your liver is actually a regenerative organ and can grow back (of course there's a lot more science that goes into this, but you get the point).

11) More people own cell phones than toilets

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Out of the world’s estimated 7 billion people, 6 billion have access to mobile phones. And 4.5 billion people have access to working toilets. Ending open defecation is a serious health initiative around the world, particularly in India.


Let's recap: your body and you are weirdly beautiful and wonderfully made! That's why it is so important the world continues to take strides in global health to make sure everyone has the opportunity to have a few chuckles, learn a few things, and live a healthy life. 

Explainer

Defeat Poverty

Eat your boogers and 10 more crazy health facts

By Gina Darnaud