WONDERS OF THE HUMAN LIFE: The human life is one of it's kind and it has several wonders that we hardly think about. The human body is seen as wholly and a single entity that may seem to have no divisions but unlike bacteria, and other microbes, our bodies are complex and made up of organs and systems. From head to toe, the human body is seen as a whole entity almost made up of no special components and functioning is far from reach to a naked eye. From birth to adulthood, and including the very many processes going on in the human body, including in-utero, this article is going to be looking at the most incredible circumstances that every mankind should think about. These are physiological processes, anatomical formations or just abnormal changes and deviations in the human body.
1. THE CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM: Our very first wonder is located in the cardiovascular system and specifically the heart. The human heart is formed in the 4th week of the embryonic life in the uterus and by the fifth week, it has started pumping although there are no developed blood vessels and blood or chambers at a time. This body's vital organ the size of your fist in an average adult individual, continues to pump unstoppably throughout life and it will only stop at the point of death. With it's ability to pump blood through more than 75Kg of an average individual, this backbone of life can make the approximate 5.5-7 liters of blood for an average individual circulate the entire body in only about 75 seconds.
It is also astonishing to know that the human heart is capable of generating nerve impulses on it's own irrespective of the input from the central nervous system and can remain pumping for more than 9 minutes outside the human body as long as it is immersed in a solution containing glucose. There is too much I have discussed about the human heart and to read more about the human heart, click here.
2. THE PARALLEL CONNECTION OF BLOOD SUPPLY: It is astonishing to know that all organs of the human body supplied blood via a parallel connection. This means that every organ receives it's own branch of blood vessel from the main blood vessel, the aorta. There are only two known instances where a series connection is available and in that sense, blood from one organ will pass through another organ and we call the blood vessel in that case, a portal vein. This is between the hypothalamus and pituitary in the first instance, and in that case we have the hypothalamic portal vein, then between the liver and the intestines, in which case we have the hepatic portal vein. I have recently discussed about the hepatic circulation and you can read more about it here.
3. THE CONTINUOUS DEMAND FOR INTAKE OF FOOD: The other most unnotably wonderful fact about the human body is the endless demand to eat. Our bodies start the continuous input of food in our mother's wombs when we are feeding via the umbrical cord and it continues to breast milk feeding after birth linking the same body that natured us, and then food is introduced at advancing age and the eating habit continues. This unstoppable and continuous process of the human body continues throughout life and it is the only way the body get nourished with nutrients. It is therefore our role and responsibility to feed our bodies.
4. THE MATERNAL-FETAL CIRCULATION: Our fourth wonder of the human body lies between the blood supply of a pregnant mother and her fetus. It is known by very few that the maternal blood does not mix with that of the fetus during pregnancy and both the mother and the growing fetus both rely on independent circulatory systems. It could be proved wrong or misunderstood but to clearly state the evidence, we look at the maternal blood group versus the fetal blood group which may be totally different and this would trigger death from blood incompatibilities if both blood systems were communicating directly.
During embryonic development, there develops an organ known as the placenta on the inner walls of the uterus and this is where exchange of material happens. Now depending on the nature of the substance, some will diffuse from the mother to the fetal side and vice versa.
5. THE GIT TRANSIT TIME: The human gastrointestinal tract is about 9 meters long from the mouth to the anal canal. This system is the only one responsible for nourishing the body with ions and nutrient, following input and digestion of food. The wonders of this multi-organ system of varying tissues and diameters is that food will stay in it for about 36 hours on average following ingestion. But of course this time will depend on the type of food eaten and the extent of exercise carried out by the individual plus some other factors such as disease state. It is this time that all the possible nutrients will be absorbed. The deviation from that, will be of two extents; either increased transit time in which food will overstay in it, or reduced transit time in which food will harry leaving the system. The two extremes have two consequences as we can see; in case of increased time, the fecal matter will be compacted and become super solid leading to a condition known as constipation. In case or reduced transit time, food will harry leaving the system and with it, goes the precious nutrients and water leading to a condition known as diarrhea.
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