Fun and Fascinating Facts About Your Body and Health 🧬

00:00:00
Speaker 1: You are listening to sleep Tight Science. Did you know your nose can remember fifty thousand different smells? What that's like having a superpower? Hello, friends, and welcome back to sleep Tight Science, a bedtime show that answers your questions about science. Did you know that your body is like a super cool machine. It's filled with amazing parts, works in ways you might not expect, and even makes some funny sounds and smells. In this episode, we're going to learn some amazing facts about your body and health that might surprise you and help you understand just how incredible your body really is. We will start with something that affects us every day technology. Did you know that technology can actually affect your health? It's not all bad, of course, but spending too much time on your phone or computer constrain your eyes badly, affect your posture, and even make it harder to fall asleep at night. Have you ever been to the doctor and heard a word that sounds like it's from a completely different language. Don't worry, You're not alone. Doctors often use big, complicated words to disc everyday things. For example, epistaxis might sound like some kind of spell from a magic book, but it's actually just a fancy word for a nosebleed. Understanding some of these tricky medical terms can make visits to the doctor a lot less confusing and can actually be a lot of fun. You could try using sternaclyde a mastoid with your grown ups. You could say, my sternaclyde a mastoid is sore, I can't go to school today. Do you think it will work? The sternaclidea mastoid is a muscle in your neck. It helps you turn your head from side to side and bend your neck. One of the coolest things your body does every day is digestion. This is how how your body turns the food you eat into energy. It's a pretty amazing process that happens in six easy steps. It's a super important process that keeps your body fueled and ready to go. We'll talk about those steps after a bit. Next, we'll learn more about something stinky farts. We have talked about this topic a number of times, but listeners keep asking to learn more. Soon you will all be fart experts. As it turns out, farts are actually made of different gases. Some of those gases come from the food you eat, and some come from the air you swallow when you talk or chew. Learning about what makes up a fart is a fun way to understand how your body works, even if it is a little smelly. Have you ever wondered about the curious parts of your body? For example, why do you have tiny muscles in your ears? Or why do you get goosebumps when you're cold. Your body has all kinds of little features that you might not even notice, but they play a big role in keeping you comfortable and healthy. It's like your body has secret powers that help you survive. Lastly, we'll share nine facts about your feet. They might seem like just another part of your body, but your feet are super important. Did you know that your feet contain twenty five percent of all the bones in your body. That's right. Plus, the skin on your feet is extra time to help protect you as you walk, run, or even jump. Your feet do a lot of work, so it's important to take care of them. Now, let's explore these fun and fascinating facts in detail so you can learn even more about how your body works and how to take care of it. Technology is everywhere. We use phones, tablets, and computers every day for fun, school, and chatting. With friends. These devices are super useful and keep us connected, entertained, and informed. But with all the good they bring, spending too much time on screens can have some downsides, from tired eyes to trouble sleeping. It's important to know how technology can affect our health and what we can do to stay balanced. Let's take a look at how our favorite gadgets might be impacting us and how to stay healthy while using them. One tired eyes. Staring at a screen for a long time can make your eyes feel tired or sore. This is called eyestrain. When we look at screens, we actually blink less, which can make our eyes dry and uncomfortable. It happens because our eyes are working hard to focus on the bright screen. To help remember to take breaks, look away from the screen every twenty minutes and focus on something far away to give your eyes arrest. Two. Bad posture. When we bend over our phones or sit funny while using a computer, it can hurt our necks and backs. Sitting this way too much can lead to bad posture. That's why it's important to sit up straight. Your body will thank you, especially those muscles in your neck. Remember that fancy muscle the Sternaclida mastoid three. Getting distracted. Technology is amazing, but all those constant notifications, short, quick videos, and messages can make it harder for us to focus. When we're always switching between apps, games, or videos, our brains can get used to being easily distracted. This makes it tough to pay attention for long periods or remember things as well. To help your brain stay sharp, try turning off notifications during study time or only having limited screen time. Number four hard to fall asleep. The light from our screens can confuse our brains, making it harder for us to fall asleep at night. It's like tricking your brain into thinking it's still daytime. Try turning off screens at least an hour before bed so your brain knows it's time to sleep. Number five self esteem and social media. Spending too much time taking selfies and comparing ourselves to others online can make us more focused on how we look and lead to lower self esteem. Constantly seeing pictures of others can make us feel like we need to look or act a certain way, which isn't always healthy. It's important to remember that what we see online isn't always the full picture, and everyone is unique and special just the way they are. Number six less movement. When we spend a lot of time playing games or watching shows, we're not moving around as much as we should. It's fun to play video games, but don't forget to balance it with outdoor activities or exercise to keep your body strong. Now that we've learned how technology affects our health, let's move on to learning some big, tricky medical words for everyday things. Up next, Six hard medical words for everyday things. Did you know that some of the simple things your body does have big fancy names. Here are six tricky medical terms for everyday things you've probably experienced. One horripellation. This is just a fancy word for goosebumps. It happens when your hair stands up because you're cold or scared. Two the cutaneous system. You might call it skin, but doctors refer to it as the cutaneous system, which covers and protects your entire body. Three dermatoglyphics. Ever notice your fingerprints? That's what Dermatoglyphics are, the patterns on your finger that make you unique. Number four proritis. This is the technical term for itching, that annoying feeling that makes you want to scratch. Number five borberygmas. When your stomach rumbles or makes growling noises, it is called borberygmas, a funny word for a common sound. Number six epistaxis. A nosebleed may seem simple, but doctors call it epistaxis, a term for when blood comes from your nose. Now, a fun thing to do is to start using these words in a sentence. Here is one to get you started. My borberygmas is so loud right now, it sounds like a bear growling in my stomach. I think it's time for lunch or a snack. Have you ever wondered what happens to the food you eat? Digestion is the amazing process your body uses to turn food into energy. From the moment you take a bite, your body gets to work breaking everything down. Let's take a look at the six simple steps of digestion. One Chewing. When you chew your teeth, break food into smaller, easy to swallow pieces. The saliva in the mouth contains enzymes that start chemical reactions to break down the food. Two Swallowing. Once you've chewed your food, you swallow it. The food travels down a tube called the esophagus, which moves it to your stomach. The muscles in the tube contract to squeeze the food down. This is called peristalsis. Number three stomach breakdown. In your stomach, powerful acids and muscles mix and mash the food, breaking it down into a liquidy mush called chyme. Number four Small intestine. Next, the mushy food moves into the small intestine where your body absorbs all the good stuff vitamins, minerals, and nutrients. This takes two to four hours. Number five Large intestine. Anything your body doesn't need goes to the large intestine. Here, water is absorbed and what's left over starts to become well poop. Number six. Finally, everything your body doesn't need is pushed out as waste when you go to the bathroom, and that's digestion, turning food into energy to keep your body going strong. Speaking of what's left over, did you know that gas is part of this process too. Let's take a deep breath, plug our nose, and get ready for the next list. Five fart gases. When your body breaks down food, it produces a mix of gases that sometimes need to escape through a burp or a fart. Let's learn about the five main gases that make up a fart. Number one nitrogen. This gas is the most common one in farts. It's what makes up most of the air around us too. Number two oxygen. Just like the oxygen we breathe, a little bit of it sneaks into our digestive system and comes out in farts. Number three carbon dioxide. This gas is created when your body digests food, and it's the same stuff you breathe out with each exhale. Number four hydrogen. This one can make your farts smell funny depending on what you eat. Hydrogen can mix with sulfur to make hydrogen sulfide, a very smelly gas. Number five methane. Methane is what makes some farts extra smelly, and it's also found in cow verbs and even the Earth's atmosphere. It's also flammable. Now that we've learned about these fart gases, let's move on to our next fun list. Six curious parts of the body. Did you know your body has some pretty curious parts with strange names and interesting functions. A list of six curious parts of the body that make you well you. Number one dimples, those little dents in your cheeks, are caused by tiny differences in your facial muscles, making some people's smiles extra unique. Number two appendix. Once thought to be useless, the appendix might help with digestion and fighting infections, though we can live just fine without it. Number three belly button. Your belly button is a reminder of where your umbilical cord connected you to your mother when you were a baby. Everyone has one. Number four Adam's apple. This bump in the throat, more noticeable in men, is made of cartilage that protects your vocal cords and helps you talk. Number five wisdom teeth. These are extra teeth at the back of your mouth that don't always fit and often have to be removed because we don't need them anymore. And number six goosebumps. These tiny bumps on your skin happen when you're cold or scared, caused by small muscles at the base of your hair follicles, pulling the hairs up. Now that we've explored some of your body's curious parts, let's take a walk through a list of nine facts about your feet. Our feet do a lot more than just help us stand and walk. They're full of fascinating facts that show just how amazing they really are. Let's dive into some fun and surprising things you might not know about your feet. Did you know each foot contains twenty six bones. One quarter of all the bones in your body are in your feet. Your feet have two hundred and fifty thousand sweat glands and can produce a quarter of a liter of sweat per day. There are over two hundred thousand nerve endings in your feet, which is why they're so ticklish. Feet work best when bare because shoes can stop the rolling movement that helps spread your weight evenly. When the toe next to your big toe is longer than the big toe, it's called Morton's toe. The Achilles tendon, which attaches your heel bone to your calf, is the strongest tendon in the body, but it can snap suddenly. Well controlled toes can do amazing things like writing, painting, and even archery. Smelly feet can actually be cheesy. You could make cheese from the bacteria that live on foot sweat, though you probably wouldn't want to. Each foot takes one point five times your body weight when you walk and up to five times your body weight when you run. In this episode, we explored some fascinating facts about our bodies, from how technology affects our health, to tricky medical terms and how digestion works. We also learned about the surprising gases and farts, discovered curious body parts like dimples and the appendix, and uncovered fun facts about our amazing feat All of these lists showed just how incredible and sometimes funny our bodies truly are. Thank you to Nolan Weston who introduced our show, You are Super Awesome. Thank you to Eli in Bonnieville, Alberta, Canada, Zach who is five, Caleb who is three, and Isabelle who was one from Perth, Australia. Jenna Nita who is seven from Los Angeles, California, Corey Cole six years old in Manhattan Beach, Lucy Bellamy Charlie from New York, Audrey who is six and a half in New Mexico, Cole R. Who is five from Massachusetts, Melody Rico who is nine from Oxnard, California, Kyle who is eight living in Cape Town, South Africa, Silas b who is six in Spokane, Washington, and Ion who is six and brother Avi who is nine in Dublin, Ohio. We would love to hear from you, ask your parents to help you. Write us a note to the email address in your show notes. You can also visit our website and send a message that way. Also be sure to leave us a rating or a comment. Wherever you listen to our podcast, we love to get your feedback. If you want to make sure you get all the episodes, please ask your parents to follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or all the other cool ways you can follow us. If you'd like to send us your questions, please send them to hello at sleep tightscience dot com. Did you know that when you sleep, your brain can go on all kinds of adventures. You might even dream about some of the cool science stuff we talked about. You could fly through space, visit other planets, shrink to see tiny atoms, or even invent something amazing. Your dreams can take you anywhere, and who knows, maybe tonight you'll dream about discovering something new and exciting in the world of science. Good Night, Sleep tight