The Body Explained...

I read an article in Parade that was titled, Your Body Explained then asked to take it to write about, thank you, and so here I am with some quirky little facts.

1. Why do I wake up in the morning with gunk in my eyes? 
That crusty stuff is actually dried tears because your tear glands are constantly watering your eyes to flush them out of irritants. While you are awake the act of blinking naturally flushing them out, but while you are sleeping it is a completely different story, which causes the goobers to cluster up while sleeping.

2. Why does it seem as if mosquitos find me more delectable then other people?

This isn't something that you are projecting, it can be actually true. Those nasty blood suckers are drawn to a variety of signals such as heat, carbon dioxide, movement, and the smell of skin secretions like lactic acids. No one really knows what perfect combination of these aspects attracts them more then not. One study even found that mosquitos prefer people who recently downed a beer. So that is my problem!

If you do happen to be the meal of choice, wear repellent and pass on the brew. If you hate that nasty bug smell, try rubbing dryer sheets all over you. They have been shown to work okay, but it's not as good as those deet ridden repellents.

3. Why do men get more hair in some places and less in others, especially when they get older?

The "George Costanza" effect tends to be a common sign of aging, and it is caused by dihydrotesterone, known to us common folks as a sex hormone to which some men are genetically predisposed to become more sensitive too (according to Spencer Kobren, founder of the American Hair Loss Association). When that sensitivity occurs the hair follicles on the head shrink and follicles elsewhere like on the back or nose or ears become stimulated and just start growing that hair.  I thought this was fascinating! Who knew?

4. Why do I huff and puff climbing stairs when I can easily run a mile outside or on a treadmill?
It is a lot easier to pull a heavy object along a flat surface then it is to pick it up, right? When you are running you are barely lifting your own body weight, but when walking up a typical staircase at a 45 degree angle you are required to move 70% of your body weight against gravity. Unless you are running up stairs, then you are basically doing both and getting a great workout. It makes total sense, and also makes me feel better when I get winded walking up stairs.

5. Why do I cry when I chop unions?
Tears when chopping unions are caused by the release of a chemical called lacrimator. In latin it literally means 'to cry'. When you slice into an onion, the chemical is expelled into the air and once it reaches your eyes and nose it breaks down into irritating compounds that attack those nerve endings.  Your eyes produce tears to rinse away the toxins. If you want to reduce this effect because it just hurts to cut onions, try pre-chilling the onions in ice water for 30-60 minutes. This slows down the enzymatic reaction that releases the lacrimator, which means fewer molecules in the air so fewer tears. If I was writing a college paper I would site who wrote this science-y stuff, and so his name was Harold McGee author of On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, not Sarah F.

6. What is earwax and why do we produce it?

A normal Q tip. 

Earwax is made up of moisturizing oils, infection fighting enzymes, and dead skin. When you try to remove it and shove a Q tip in there you are actually just packing it down further and further into your ear which hardens and get stuck.  As my grandmother was getting older we all thought she was going deaf because she couldn't hear a word we were saying, but it actually turned out she had been using Q tips for the last 50 years and had shoved ear wax so far down there she couldn't hear anymore. Don't worry, it got removed and she could hear as good as new and yelled at us for always talking to loudly at her.

This man is supposedly also
called Q Tip, just a famous one. 

A helpful tip to avoid deafness is instead of using the tips with a side of Q, clean your ears while showering by gently tugging on the lobes which straightens the ear canal and allows water to wash away excess wax. It's hard to ween off the tips, I have tried and sometimes I just need to hold it in my hand just because, but in the long run it is better for your ears.

Hope you enjoyed this quirky nonsense.