30 Disturbing Facts About The Human Body That Will Make You Gasp

There are also some alarming facts about the human body that, quite frankly, are enough to give us the creeps.

Stephanie

• Published in Interesting
• June 6, 2022

The human body is beyond fascinating. It can endure so much more than we give it credit for, and it's constantly working in ways we don't even realize.

Our bodies are both extremely tough and incredibly fragile at the same time. The more we learn about our own chemistry, the more in awe of it we become.

But it isn't all beauty and wonderment. There are also some alarming facts about the human body that, quite frankly, are enough to give us the creeps.

Reddit user u/BathNo7713 went to the r/AskReddit community to pose the question, "What is the most disturbing fact about the human body?" And, as always, the people of Reddit didn't disappoint with their answers.

It is, of course, important to remember that "facts" read on social platforms are not always 100% accurate, and doing your own research is always encouraged. Media expert, Mike Sington, said, "The rise of social media has decreased the reliability of the information because misinformation can spread so quickly before it can be corrected."

With that being said, from internal organs reorganizing themselves to our bodies making cancerous cells on the daily to, um, our mouths being made from our buttholes, we have all the unsettling info here. Keep scrolling (if you dare) to find out 30 disturbing facts about the human body that will make you gasp.

1. You'll Be Sacrificed

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.

- u/anima99

2. No Mercy

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.

- u/spookypinkchic

3. A Game Of Chance

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.

- u/StrebLab

4. The Gut Shuffle

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.

- u/squatter_

5. That's Heavy

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.

- u/calladus

6. Locked-In

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 the 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.

- u/4oodler

7. Spinning Around

The head can be twisted around about three and a half times before coming off.

- u/Afraid_Department_51

8. Disconnected

People that have severe 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 your 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.

- Reddit: u/xparapluiex

9. Cop That

There’s enough copper in your body to make a pair of headphones.

- u/Ghost_Creation_

10. Take Your Vitamins

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.

- Reddit: u/sambeau

11. So Many Eggs

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.

- u/HaunSolo24

12. Heartstopper

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 a systole, 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.

- Reddit: u/butt3ryt0ast

13. No Warning

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.

- u/Unsolicited_Spiders

14. Puppets On Strings

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.

- u/deepsoul13

15. No Wonder Some People Talk S**t

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.

- u/PucWalker

16. Nice Knowing Ya

Allergies and intolerances can just come and go as they please with no explanation. Was lactose intolerant from age 13 to 22.

- Reddit: u/ace_is_space

17. Immunity

You develop cancerous cells every day. But your immune system deals with it.

EDIT: Usually.

- u/Ordell9

18. This Little Piggy Is Strong

If you lose the pinky of your hand, you'll lose the 50% strength of your hand.

- Reddit: u/cutebabi21

19. Such An A*s

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.

- u/KingZaneTheStrange

20. That Explains A Lot

You have a spine and support system meant for traveling on four legs. Basically, we've all got bad backs.

- u/Beowulf33232

21. Heartbroken

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.

- u/WaywardRush169

22. Survival Mode

Pregnant women if injured, the stem cells from the womb will go to damaged organs and rebuild them to protect the baby.

- u/MNPhatts

23. It's A Mystery

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.

- Reddit: u/really_robot

24. Toothache Is No Joke

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.

- u/hopingtosurvive2020

25. Keep Making That Mucus

Stomach acid is very powerful, it would burn right though us if we didn’t secrete mucus every few hours.

- u/finester39

26. Well, That's Depressing

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.

- Reddit: u/Terrami

27. Belly Button Travels

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.

- u/Soggy_Willingness_65

28. It's Chemistry

The brains chemistry is stable enough to last thousands of years if not diseased, it's the rest of the body that kills us.

- u/Diamond-Fist

29. Oh, Hell No

It’s possible to develop tumors with hair, teeth, and even eyes. They are called teratomas.

- u/Color_Wasted

30. Listen Closely

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.

- u/Black_Handkerchief

So, there you have it. 30 disturbing facts about the human body that will make you gasp.

Are we right? Did some of these facts make your jaw drop?

Well, there's certainly no doubt that our bodies are extraordinary. Whether you believe in God or evolution, one thing no one can deny is that the human body is fascinating.

Do you have any intriguing facts about the body? We would love to hear them in the comment section below.

Stephanie