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30 Of The Most Disturbing Things About Human Bodies That Might Freak You Out
Interview
The human body is one of the most fascinating things on Planet Earth. Paradoxically, it’s at once extremely fragile and tougher than you think, adapting very quickly, and designed to bounce back even after serious injuries. Some people move beyond what most of us think our bodies are capable of doing, setting new athletic achievements—David Goggins alone has shown that people can endure far more than they give themselves credit for.
However, it isn’t all gold medals and victory parties. There are some truly disturbing and even creepy things about the human body that would sound like science fiction if we didn’t know better. Folks from the r/AskReddit online community shared the weirdest facts about human biology they know, and we’re sharing the most interesting ones with you.
Scroll down if you want to learn something new. Hopefully, you’ll still be able to sleep at night knowing some of these. Got any unusual facts about our bodies to share with all the other Pandas? We’ll be waiting to read all about it in the comment section.
Bored Panda reached out to health and fitness coach Anna Armagno Toussaint to have a chat about how much exercise and movement people should strive to get every day, as well as what people's biggest diet mistakes are. (Spoiler warning: many of us are eating an excessive amount of sugar.) We also got in touch with the author of the thread, redditor u/BathNo7713, to get their perspective as well. You'll find Anna and the redditor's answers to our questions below.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
The brain will protect itself even if it means misery to you or death.
Inhaling smoke in the middle of a burning house? Brain will make you stop breathing and pass out.
Stuck in the middle of a cold place? You will fall asleep to conserve energy and never wake up again.
Does your brain need more oxygen? You faint in the middle of a busy road.
Had your leg torn off by a bear? Here's adrenaline so you can save your brain even if there's a huge risk of infection or further injury.
Is your brain experiencing too much stress? It will make you drink alcohol or resort to drugs.
You and your brain work together most of the time, but when push comes to shove, you are sacrificed.
Health and fitness coach Anna told Bored Panda that she leans more towards believing that the human body is resilient. She opened up to us that she has an autoimmune disease and does her best to see things in a positive light. She knows that things could be much worse off.
When it comes to eating properly, balance is key. "I think people don't eat enough balanced meals. I have been following a great eating guide that encourages balanced meals but is also really flexible so you are never cutting anything out completely. We need more balance," the coach stressed that it's vital for health.
"I do think, at least in America, that we definitely need to cut back on sugar though. It definitely affects my autoimmune issues and exacerbates conditions of friends as well. It feeds cancer. All things are ok in moderation but we don't need to be adding as much sugar to yogurt as a serving of ice cream, you know?" she pointed out that limiting the intake of sugar may be a very positive step for many people.
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#2
I noticed this after my abdominal surgery. When I turned over in bed my guts seemed to fall from one side to the other. Mentioned to my doc and she confirmed it was my bowels rearranging themselves.
#3
Period cramps are essentially your womb suffocating itself.
To get the uterine lining out of your womb during your period, your uterus has to contract. Sometimes, when the contractions are stronger, your womb squeezes its blood vessels so tight that oxygen can't reach them, which sends pain signals to your brain (ouch). But wait, there's more – this process increases your production of chemicals called prostaglandins, which encourage more contractions of the uterus. There really is no mercy.
Bored Panda wanted to get a better understanding of how much each of us should strive to exercise and move every day. Coach Anna told us that "any!" movement is better than none.
"Technically, we should aim for 30 minutes a day of movement, but if all you can do is walk around the block, start there," she said that we shouldn't feel bad about starting small and going from there. Any exercise that you can realistically get done is far better than sitting on the couch, grumpy that you don't have the time for the workout you'd ideally like to do.
"You don't have to run a marathon or bench press your wife, but you can certainly get some movement in. Start where you can and don't give up," the coach shared some encouraging words with Bored Panda.
#4
You develop cancerous cells every day. But your immune system deals with it.
EDIT: Usually.
(T)reacherou(S) 2 years ago
Didn't want to know that. (Honestly think i'm gonna regret clicking on this trend at all)
#5
A third to a half of all fertilized ovum do not result in a viable pregnancy. They are expelled as a “heavy period” instead. Most women don’t even realize that they miscarried.
#6
Humans are deuterostomes. Meaning as embryos the first thing to develop is an opening that will eventually become the a**s. So at one point you were nothing but an a*****e
Redditor u/BathNo7713 told Bored Panda that they posed the question to the r/AskReddit community out of general curiosity. "I wanted to know more and wanted other people who read the post to know more too," they told us that their main goals were curiosity and education.
The author of the thread personally believes that the human body is very fragile. In their opinion, the biggest weakness that people have is "the fact that our own immune system can make us blind." Meanwhile, the biggest strength is that "we mostly rely on instinct a way of knowing something without learning it."
The redditor believes that there might not be enough attention given to science and psychology at schools, as many of the facts shared in the thread weren't taught to students.
According to Ruslan Medzhitov, the David W. Wallace Professor of Immunobiology and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at Yale, different tissues and organs have different degrees of resilience.
“What makes us really sick, and what can kill an organism, animal, or human, is when the most vulnerable aspect of our physiology—the organs or tissues or processes that have least resilience—are affected enough to push them over the edge,” he explains.
One area of our bodies that is extremely sensitive is the brain. Our skulls protect it from hard blows; meanwhile, our internal biology is structured in such a way that it gets supplied with glucose and oxygen at the expense of other tissues. In short, the brain’s a priority for our bodies.
“These mechanisms ultimately increase the resilience of the entire organism because they protect the weakest links in the system,” Medzhitov noted.
#7
if you lose the pinky of your hand, you'll lose the 50% strength of your hand.
#8
You have a spine and support system meant for traveling on four legs.
Basically, we've all got bad backs.
#9
An estimated 60% of cancers arise from non-modifiable risk factors. In other words, they are not due to any lifestyle choices and they are not preventable.
It’s important to be curious in life, but it’s also vital that you remain at least slightly skeptical of what you read online. The best approach is to do at least a bit of your own research and cross-check information from multiple reliable sources. Especially if you stumble upon an outlandish fact, whether about the human body or anything else.
During an earlier interview with Bored Panda, media expert Mike Sington shared some red flags to look out for that indicate a claim or fact might be fake.
"Red flags to watch out for that a claim may be fake: it's outlandish, it's too good to be true, you haven't seen the claim anywhere else, you've never heard the source, the source isn't reputable, you can't find two other sources making the same claim, your gut tells you, 'this can't be true,'" the expert stressed that we shouldn’t accept things blindly.
#10
Wounds and bone breaks are actively held together by your body: more specifically, the collagen it produces that acts like glue. If you don't eat enough vitamin C and get scurvy, you won't produce enough collagen—old wounds will reopen and long-healed bones could break apart again.
Collagen also holds your teeth in, so they loosen and can fall out.
Eat some fruit, folks. Don't push that parsley to the side of your plate.
#11
Pregnant women if injured, the stem cells from the womb will go to damaged organs and rebuild them to protect the baby.
#12
A female is born with every egg they'll ever release from the ovaries. Therefore, a pregnant woman who is carrying a female child is also carrying the eggs of her grandchildren.
"The rise of social media has decreased the reliability of information because misinformation can spread so quickly before it can be corrected," Mike warned. He advises starting off with a simple Google search to double-check a fact’s reliability.
"Do this and think before reposting or you may be contributing to the problem. Amplification doesn’t make a claim true or accurate," he noted.
#13
You can die of a broken heart. you can have your heart broken and become ill to where your body goes into survival mode and can shut down major functions.
HarriMissesScotland 2 years ago
Today I learned that the husband of Irma Garcia, one of the teachers killed in Uvalde, TX, died at home after planning his wife's funeral. Devastating in every way.
#14
When we defibrillate someone who’s in an unsuitable rhythm, we’re basically just shutting off their heart and hoping it will turn back on by itself in a normal pattern. That’s why you don’t shock asystole, there’s nothing to turn off. Defibrillation is like hitting the reboot switch in the computer, hopefully the problem will solve itself when you turn it off and it’ll return to normal function
#15
There are a vast number of ways that your body can malfunction and kill you with little or no warning. An aneurysm can go undetected until it bursts and kills you. Getting hit in the chest just the right way can stop your heart. You can encounter an allergen that never previously provoked an immune response that freaks out your body so badly that you die.
You literally just never know if your body will just....die.
"Our attention spans have been reduced to mere seconds at a time because that’s the way information and entertainment is fed to us now. People get tiny bite-sized bits of news by scrolling a Twitter feed, they entertain themselves by scrolling quickly through Instagram and TikTok. It’s creating a habit that doesn’t have to be," Mike said that even though our attention spans are shorter than ever, we can fight back against this.
"The good news is there’s plenty of long-form entertainment and news available, you just have to seek it out. I believe the benefit is worth it. I’ve discovered it improves your ability to focus, it’s more calming, you retain more information, and it gives you a more balanced and nuanced view of the world."
#16
If your brainstem (the part of the brain that mediates most motor control for all of the body) is damaged, you can get "locked-in" syndrome. That means you're fully conscious and aware of your surroundings but unable to move or speak. The only muscles that remain unaffected in most people are the muscles that move they eyes and the eyelids. You're essentially trapped within your own body with your only way of communication being blinking or moving your eyes
It can be caused by toxins, blockage of the basilar artery which is the main artery of the brainstem, or other brainstem damage
#17
Your body replaces cells as they mutate or die. However, much like a photocopy of a photocopy, the replacements are a little less perfect each time. Around the age of 28, you are no longer replacing cells effectively.
What that means is after the age of 28, approximately, you are actively in the process of dying because your cells are being destroyed faster than they can be replaced and the replacements are more and more imperfect each time.
#18
Well, just this week there was a woman(local) in her late twenties who died of a toothache.
She had posted on FB about needing a dentist over the weekend and decided to wait till Monday, Sunday morning she was gone. The infection went to her brain.
Libby Tailor 2 years ago (edited)
My dentist once told me that infection from tooth could go two way: up to the brain or down to the lungs.
#19
Stomach acid is very powerful, it would burn right though us if we didn’t secrete mucus every few hours.
#20
The head can be twisted around about three and a half times before coming off.
#21
People that have sever epilepsy can get a procedure done to cut the corpus callosum which connects the two sides of the brain, and allows them to talk to each other. Once this happens your image identification side can’t talk to your words side, and causes issues if you aren’t able to look at an item with both eyes. Otherwise patients act mostly the same.
So if you were asked to cover you eye that sends info to your language center, and then shown a ball to look at for your object identifying center you wouldn’t be able to tell what it is out loud. Your brain would still be recognizing it, but wouldn’t be able to provide the word for it.
Fortunately it is very rare to get this done these days as medication has become more effective, so this procedure is a last resort sort of thing.
RafCo 2 years ago
The seizures can be caused by a feedback loop between the two hemispheres of the brain. By removing the communication channel, it interrupts that feedback loop, eliminating the seizures (mostly). For a time, it was the most effective treatment, and if the option was either have life threatening seizures, or just make sure you don't try to do things with one eye shut, most people felt that was a small sacrifice to live an otherwise normal life.
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Giles McArdell 2 years ago
I once saw a documentary on a woman who had this, I remember a scene where she it trying to pick out clothes and was getting annoyed because her left hand kept going off and picking out different clothes to the right.
Just a ray of f'ing sunshine 2 years ago
A true case of the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing (and visa versa). :)
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Randy Klefbeck 2 years ago
The exception to this procedure is if someone is under the age of 10. The corpus callosum has not finished the exchange of chemicals which divide the the brain into dedicated right/left hemispheric jobs before that age. It is also the reason why children can acquire any language they are exposed to in immersion and become fluent in that language before the age of 10, (fluent means speaking without an accent from a first language....unless the accent is inherently regional to the language the child is exposed to). It would essentially become two completely developed brains without demands on which hemisphere would control which side of the body.
Al Padilla 2 years ago
Almost, but not quite correct. Turns out the left-sided visual cortex "sees" the right field of view, and the right-sided visual cortex sees the left. But the left visual cortex receives data from the left sides of both left & right eye retinas, and the right cortex from the right side of both left & right retinas. So what your "verbal side" describes is the right visual field, and the opposite for your right side. Look up "split brain humans for some amazing real stories. Our consciousness is "modular" - think of math & video coprocessors, maybe.
Nika Strokappe 2 years ago
There are cases where people had a small stroke and would be fully functional apart from not being able to recognize fruits... (I am very curious whether these people would recognize tomatoes, which technically is a fruit)
Paul Davis 2 years ago
Seems to be that cutting the corpus callosum would theoretically cause you to become sociopathic or psychopathic as well, given that, so far as I know, many sociopaths and psychopaths have severely reduced communication through the corpus callosum that is visible in brain scans.
Mary Rogers 2 years ago
It's probably more complicated than that. I remember reading about these experiments on people who had that surgery and I don't recall any changes in personality mentioned. It just basically affected how they processed sensory input.
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Terry Tobias 2 years ago
This is why I had a concentration in Brain & Cognitive Sciences when I went for my Psych degree. Brain stuff is so cool!
Your Life Sucks 2 years ago
This also happens with seizures, stroke, oxygen deprivation, tons of stuff like that. Drugs and smoking weed can also can have this effect
Molly Block 2 years ago
Okay, listen. I was born very prematurely, (at 23 weeks), and I was almost exactly two pounds. My eyes didn't have enough time to develop. Hence, I was born legally blind, with severe exotropia. (Outward lazy eye). And nystagus (shaking of the eyeball). I cannot look at something with both eyes at one time. I don't understand what this 'fact' above means, but I dare to argue to statement. I don't have epilepsy, but I have a brain and eye communication problem. I don't need brain surgery. I've learned to cope!
Bee she/her 2 years ago
Well some people face an huge possibility of death at any moment. You can’t just cope with that if that’s what you’re implying.
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#22
No one knows why we have to sleep. We have theories. But no universally agreed upon or accepted one. The reason we spend a third of our lives incapacitated and unaware is still a mystery.
#23
There’s enough copper in your body to make a pair of headphones.
#24
Allergies and intolerances can just come and go as they please with no explanation
Was lactose intolerant from age 13 to 22.
Monika Lachova 2 years ago
intolerances are linked to the status of gut mucus cells. If they're somehow damaged it can result in this (very simlified explanation tho). Also had period of lactose intolerance once.
#25
Scientists once took a swab of the inside of an American man’s belly button to observe the bacteria that lived there.
They found bacteria previously only known to exist in Japan. The man had never traveled outside of the U.S.
So you never know what other country’s bacteria you’re carrying in your belly button.
Jessica Cifelli 2 years ago
Did he wear clothing made in Japan? Or maybe used medicines made in Japan?
#26
The brain chemistry is stable enough to last thousands of years if not diseased, it's the rest of the body that kills us.
Shelli Aderman 2 years ago
The meat puppet part of us… makes sense why some folks opt for cryogenic burial. 🤨
#27
It is always making disgusting body noises. The only reason you are not aware of it is because the ambient noise kind of drowns it out because your ears focus on it.
If you go to one of those super-silent rooms that absorb all sorts of sounds, it is a really weird way to reacquaint yourself with your body.
#28
It’s possible to develop tumors with hair, teeth, and even eyes. They are called teratomas.
#29
Your fingers and toes have no muscles. All the muscles that control them via tendons are in your forearms/hands and lower legs/feet. Your fingers are like puppets on strings. Sweet dreams.
*Fixed, yes forgot about the muscles in palms/feet. No actual muscles inside the fingers/toes themselves though.
BorrowedThoughts 2 years ago
otherwise we would all have really chunky fingers from all the muscle
#30
Your butthole and your mouth originate from the same cell grouping during development, but the butthole cells form first, then the mouth cells from them. That means your mouth is from your a*s.
What do you think ?
Leo Domitrix 2 years ago
Frankly, after you survive medical school, you wonder how the heck any of us got past zygote stage, let alone out a birth canal, and then didn't just turn into goop like a big old failed chemistry experiment.
CHuZ 2 years ago
I'm a histopathologist. I've seen tiny embryos less than 2cm long, mastectomies weighing nearly 3kg, uterus the size of a football, cancers in their native form (usually white/cream-ish masses) and as individual cells under the microscope. The human body is truly amazing.
Leo Domitrix 2 years ago
OK, I have to ask ---- football as in: American football? Or football as in soccer? I know, dumb question. I apologize. My MD nerdiness gets the better of me. Currently collating post-Covid patient data, since Covid itself burned me out on the human race. If you get a chance at post-Covid lung tissues... Just... Astonishing anyone survives what happens to the body.
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TrickQuestion 2 years ago
Many body functions are EXTREMELY painful (swallowing for example). Your body blocks out that pain.
Moxie Mallahan 2 years ago
Well as a generally paranoid person who has dealt with hypochondriac symptoms most of my life, I don’t know WHY I decided to read this list. And now I’m regretting it.
Leo Domitrix 2 years ago
Frankly, after you survive medical school, you wonder how the heck any of us got past zygote stage, let alone out a birth canal, and then didn't just turn into goop like a big old failed chemistry experiment.
CHuZ 2 years ago
I'm a histopathologist. I've seen tiny embryos less than 2cm long, mastectomies weighing nearly 3kg, uterus the size of a football, cancers in their native form (usually white/cream-ish masses) and as individual cells under the microscope. The human body is truly amazing.
Leo Domitrix 2 years ago
OK, I have to ask ---- football as in: American football? Or football as in soccer? I know, dumb question. I apologize. My MD nerdiness gets the better of me. Currently collating post-Covid patient data, since Covid itself burned me out on the human race. If you get a chance at post-Covid lung tissues... Just... Astonishing anyone survives what happens to the body.
Load More Replies... TrickQuestion 2 years ago
Many body functions are EXTREMELY painful (swallowing for example). Your body blocks out that pain.
Moxie Mallahan 2 years ago
Well as a generally paranoid person who has dealt with hypochondriac symptoms most of my life, I don’t know WHY I decided to read this list. And now I’m regretting it.
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