by Bill McLain
Roman bath houses were public places that often included games, libraries, and stalls where goods were sold. The baths were warm, hot, and cold, and a Roman entered each one successively. The daily visit to the bath house was one of Rome’s amusements.
Over time, people discovered that bathing could prevent disease, and it became a very private affair. In fact the bathroom today is a personal sanctuary where one can escape from the hubbub of life, other people, and even do some reading.
People in the United States consider a daily bath to be essential. However, they usually take a shower to get clean and use the bathtub mainly for relaxation, which is not too different from the rituals used thousands of years ago.
Taking a shower can be invigorating and refreshing, but soaking in a bathtub full of warm water, surrounded by candles, can be a ritualistic event.
Why do your palms sweat when you are nervous? (I cannot tell a lie.)
You perspire to regulate the heat in your body (we’re reminded of a grade school teacher who always insisted that pigs sweat but people perspire). If you become too hot, sweat glands in your body produce water droplets on the surface of your skin. As the water evaporates, it provides a cooling effect to your body. It’s the same principle used by evaporative water air conditioners.
The majority of the roughly 5 million sweat glands in your body are concentrated on the palms of your hands, the soles of your feet and, to some extent, your armpits. About two-thirds of the glands are in your hands and are controlled by your sympathetic nervous system. So if it’s hot and your hands, feet, and armpits sweat, this is normal.
However, if you are in a stressful situation and are nervous, angry, embarrassed, or anxious, your entire nervous system reacts and produces an immediate response called “flight or fight.” Your nervous system has sensed danger and must prepare you for one of two options: combat the danger (fight) or run away from it (flight).
Your nervous system calls on all of your bodily functions to prepare you for this imminent danger. You start sweating, your heart beats faster, and you breathe more rapidly. This type of emotionally induced sweating is limited to your hands, feet, and armpits. Even if it’s very cold, you will sweat if you are in a “flight or fight” situation.
Your palms may sweat for other reasons, such as an affliction that causes your system to produce more perspiration than what is needed to cool your body. Excessive and unnatural sweating can also be caused by hyperthyroidism, psychiatric disorders, menopause, and obesity.
We don’t all perspire in the same way because the number and location of sweat glands are unique to each person. Climate also affects how we respond to temperature changes. If you grow up in a hot and humid area, you probably won’t sweat that much. However, if you move from that location to a very dry area, you will probably perspire profusely.
It’s good to remember that if your body doesn’t need cooling and you are sweating, then you are in some type of stressful situation.
FACTOIDS
Although we use antiperspirants to get rid of body odor, perspiration by itself doesn’t have a bad smell. The foul odor is caused by bacteria eating the debris on our skin.
Some people claim they never perspire. That’s because their bodily thermostat is functioning efficiently and the perspiration evaporates the moment their body creates it. If perspiration is running off you, then your thermostat isn’t working very well.
Because we have no control over our sympathetic nervous system, which controls perspiration, perspiration can be a factor in polygraph, or lie detector, tests. Along with heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration, perspiration gives a good clue as to whether the person is nervous or anxious and thus possibly lying.
DID YOU KNOW?
Perspiration, heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration are not the only bodily functions we cannot control. When we communicate with other people, especially in emotional situations, we may have conscious control over our words but not our body movements. These movements, referred to as “body language,” are often more honest than what we say. Some authorities claim that body language accounts for 93 percent of our communication with others.
Suppose you are talking with a friend and you say, “Did you enjoy the ski trip with your boss?” He may say, “It was fine.” However, if he doesn’t smile and tightens his grip on the paper he’s holding, you can probably bet that he didn’t have a good time and doesn’t want to talk about it right now. When people’s body language contradicts their words, you’re better off to go with the body language.
To give you an idea of what body language is about, here are a few examples:
Hands on hips: the person is either ready for something or showing aggression
Arms crossed on chest: the person is defensive
Rubbing an eye: the person doesn’t believe what you are saying
Patting or fondling hair: the person lacks self-confidence
There are hundreds of examples of body language. The subject is detailed in many good books. If all the examples were listed here, you might rest your head in your hand and look downward. That would mean you’re bored and that wouldn’t be good.
Why do we have eyebrows? (The eyes have it.)
We have eyebrows for two reasons. The first is to keep water from running into your eyes. Your forehead can perspire more than other parts of the body. Perspiration is salty, and if you didn’t have eyebrows it would run into your eyes and cause them to smart. If it is raining hard, water running off your head and down your forehead is stopped by the eyebrows so the water doesn’t get into your eyes and hamper your vision.
You’ll also notice that the bone under your eyebrows sticks out slightly. If you bump that bone, the eyebrows soften the blow to prevent damage to the bone. It is believed that early humans had much thicker eyebrows to provide more padding.
Your eyebrows, eyelashes, hair in your nose, and hair in your ears all serve to help guard your body cavities (eyes, nose, and ears) from insects and other foreign matter. Eyelashes, for example, keep dust, dirt, small insects, and other things out of your eyes when you blink.
The main value of hair is that it helps hold in body heat. That’s one reason we have so much hair on top of our heads. A large percentage of body heat is lost through the top of the head. That’s why years ago people used to wear “night caps” to bed so they would stay warmer.
Hair is also a sensory device. Hair grows out of tubelike pockets, called follicles, which have a number of nerves. That is one reason our skin is so sensitive when something touches it. Each follicle lies at an angle to the skin and when associated muscle fibers contract, the follicle is raised until it is almost perpendicular to the skin. This can cause what we call “goose bumps,” or can cause our hair on the back of our neck “to stand on end.”
Our hair is thus quite versatile, helping to keep us warm, protect parts of our body, and aid our sense of feeling.
FACTOIDS
At any given point in time, about 90 percent of your hair is growing while the remainder is just resting. A hair’s growth cycle lasts anywhere between two and six years. It then rests for two or three months, then falls out, and a new hair starts growing in its place.
Blondes have the most hair on their heads, about 120,000 strands, while redheads have the least, about 80,000 strands or about a third less than blondes. People with brown and black hair have more hair than redheads but less hair than blondes.
Hair grows at different rates. It grows the fastest during the summer and when you are asleep. It also grows the fastest if you are between 16 and 24 years old.
A single human hair is stronger than a copper wire of the same thickness. In fact, the combined strength of all the hair on your head could support the weight of almost 100 people. In 1885, workers were having trouble rebuilding a temple in Kyoto, Japan, because the ropes were too weak to move the heavy building material and kept breaking. The temple worshippers all shaved their heads, and their hair was woven into
ropes. The ropes were strong enough to move the heavy material and the temple was successfully rebuilt.
If you never cut your hair, it will grow to about 3.5 feet long. There have been a few people with hair more than 12 feet long.
A form of kung fu, called pak mei in the Cantonese language, means “white eyebrow,” so called because the Buddhist monk who devised the system had silver eyebrows.
DID YOU KNOW?
If you’ve ever eaten sushi, then you already know a lot about human hair. Sushi rolls have three parts: a thick outer layer (usually edible seaweed), a center of rice stuffing, and a core offish or vegetables.
Human hair is quite similar in structure. The outer layer, called the cuticle, helps protect the hair from damage. The center, called the cortex, is the main part of the hair. This contains the pigment that determines the color of the hair. The core, called the medulla, is the soft center of the hair.
There are many different theories to explain how hair grows. Yet in this modern age of science, the process that causes hair to grow and the reasons for hair loss remain a mystery. Until the mystery is unraveled, there will still be many bald men in the world.
Why does it feel good when you stretch? (Uncoiling the springs.)
Stretching sends a signal to the brain, telling it to make your muscles relax. As your muscles relax, you feel less tense. That’s why it feels so good to stretch.
The muscles in your body are like springs. Imagine a spring that is very tight. You can’t compress it much or produce much power with it. On the other hand, if a spring is very loose, it’s quite easy to compress it. Once you let go of the compressed spring, it releases a great deal of force.
If your muscles are tight, they can’t be contracted very far and they don’t produce much power. Also, a tight muscle can’t absorb much shock and puts even more strain on your joints. Tight muscles not only limit your performance in whatever you’re doing; they can also lead to injuries.
If you spend just a few minutes a day stretching your chest, back, shoulders, and legs, you’ll be more flexible and will feel a lot better.
Stretching may not be the fountain of youth, but regular stretching will keep you limber and make it easier to get in and out of your car or pick something up off the ground. You won’t be any younger, but you’ll feel younger. After all, youth is a state of mind.
FACTOIDS
Many people today have desk jobs and simply don’t have the time or the desire to exercise. However you can stretch anywhere, anytime, in just a few minutes. Here are some stretches you can do while at work. Remember to breathe deeply, stretch slowly, and pay attention to the muscles you are stretching. You only need to do each exercise two or three times to feel better.
Stand up, place your hands on your hips, lean back as far as you can while looking at the ceiling, then lean forward to the upright position you started with.
Interlace your fingers and place your hands over your head with the palms facing up. Push toward the ceiling as you straighten your arms as far as you can.
Without moving your shoulders turn your head slowly to the left as far as you can, then to the right, and then back toward the ceiling.
Let your arms dangle at your sides. Rotate your shoulders by raising them up and back in a circular motion. Then rotate your shoulders forward.
Keep your feet flat on the floor, put your hands behind your head, and slowly arch your back while also bending your head backward. Don’t do this if your office chair has casters or if the back of the chair can tilt, otherwise you may end up on the floor in a very embarrassing position.
Interlace your fingers, straighten your arms in front of you with your palms facing out, and push your arms out as far as you can.
DID YOU KNOW?
Stretching your body makes you feel good and has many benefits. Stretching your mind can do the same for you.
When you don’t stretch, your muscles tighten up. If you don’t exercise, your muscles get flabby. It’s the same with the brain. It needs exercise and it needs to be stretched.
Scientists say that thinking creates dendrite connections in the neural pathways of the brain. That’s a fancy way of saying that thinking creates a path in the brain for similar thoughts to follow. Over time, millions of these thought pathways are etched into your brain, and you tend to use the same paths over and over again when dealing with the many problems of living. It’s as if your mind has become hard wired and reacts out of habit rather than thought.
The subjects taught in school tend to use the logical part of your brain, the left brain. Reading, writing, and arithmetic are best learned by the logical left brain. When you create art, play sports, or play music, you are using the creative right brain.
In day-to-day living, the left brain gets a great deal of exercise, but the right brain does not. If you create new pathways in your right brain, you will develop other ways of thinking, and you can also improve your insight. Insight is that wonderful feeling when the answer just pops into your head without your having to reason it out.
One of the best ways to exercise and stretch your entire brain is to solve puzzles, logic problems, and riddles. There are different kinds of thinking, such as reasoning in an orderly fashion (logical reasoning) or using analogies (analogical reasoning). Doing different types of puzzles will exercise all of the thinking processes of both sides of your brain.
To stay fit, exercise your body every day by doing stretching exercises. Don’t forget to stretch your mind also by doing a crossword puzzle or trying to solve a riddle.
More questions? Try these Web sites.
HEALTH INFORMATION SITE
http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSIHW000/408/408.html
This site contains health information from Johns Hopkins University. It has health sections for men, women, children, and seniors. You can search for information on drugs, scroll through a medical dictionary, explore various diseases, and read a number of up-to-the-minute headline stories.
HEALTH CENTRAL
http://www.healthcentral.com/
One of the best medical sites on the Internet. It has late news, a section on fitness and weight loss, a library of over 6,000 diseases, free newsletters you can order, and a section hosted by the well-known Dr. Dean Edell.
The site also shows you how to start your own health profile and create a personal health page. It also has online doctor referral services.
THE HUMAN BODY
http://biology.about.com/education/biology/
Covers much of human biology, including altered memories, artificial corneas, brain cells, the fear center, neuronal fatigue, and taste buds. It also talks about such things as cancer and diet, how chocolate increases libido, why optimists live longer, and identical twins and fingerprints.
INSIDE THE HUMAN BODY
http://www.imcpl.lib.in.us/nov_ind.htm
This site contains descriptions and drawings of the various systems within your body. Click on any system to display a drawing of that system and scientific facts about it. The seven systems covered are: circulatory, digestive, excretory, muscular, nervous, respiratory, and skeletal.
BRAIN FITNESS—EXERCISE YOUR BRAIN
http://www.thirdage.com/cgi-bin/rd7hanl/living/games/brainfitness/
Your brain needs exercise as well as your body. This site has brain exercises ranging from meeting people to playing games. You can do most of these exercises at home or on your computer. Sections include brain warmups, brain aerobics, brain food, brain gymnastics, and brain energy.
8
Inventions
Who invented the zipper? (Have you ever heard of the “battle of the fly”?)
In 1893 Whitcomb Judson, a Chicago mechanical engineer, patented a device called the “clasp locker,” which was the forerunner of the modern zipper. It had only two problems: it didn’t work and no one wanted to buy it. Judson displayed it at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. Although around 20 million people went to the fair, he sold only 20 of hi
s new hookless fasteners. The U.S. Postal Service bought them to put on their mailbags.
Undaunted, Judson founded the Universal Fastener Company to manufacture his new device. One of the company’s employees was Gideon Sundback, a Swedish immigrant who eventually became head designer.
Sundback made a number of improvements to Judson’s original design, and by 1913 he had designed the zipper as we know it today. A patent was issued in 1917 for Sundback’s design. It was called the “separable fastener.”
When B. F. Goodrich ordered a huge quantity of them for the rubber galoshes he was manufacturing, he liked the “z-z-zip” sound they made and coined the name zipper.
At first, zippers were used mainly for boots and tobacco pouches. Almost 20 years later, in the 1930s, the fashion industry began promoting zippers for children’s clothes. In the famous fashion “battle of the fly,” the zipper beat the button hands down as French fashion designers started putting zippers in men’s trousers.
Today zippers are found everywhere, on clothes, luggage, handbags, jumpsuits, and countless other products. In spite of competitive products such as snaps and Velcro, it appears that the zipper is here to stay.
If you look closely at a zipper, you’ll probably see the letters YKK stamped on the pull tab. In 1934 a Japanese company called Yoshida Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha, which means Yoshida Manufacturing Company, Limited, started manufacturing zippers. The company abbreviated its name to YKK, which became its trademark and was stamped on its zippers. Today, the YKK corporation has plants around the world. Its National Manufacturing Center in Macon, Georgia, is the largest manufacturer of zippers in the world. Since the center produces well over 1.5 billion zippers a year, there’s a good chance that your zipper will have YKK stamped on it.