All photographs courtesy of Unsplash
In the Bible the Psalmist reminds us that we are all "fearfully and wonderfully made" so here are some amazing facts about some of our body organs.
The skin is the largest organ of the body, covering it from the top of the head to the soles of the feet. In a full grown adult, it weighs about 11lb. Its thickest point is on the soles, at up to 5mm thick (0.2in). Its thinnest point is on the eyelid at only ½ mm. 1 square inch of skin may hold 650 sweat glands, 20 blood vessels and more than 1,000 nerve endings.
The heart will beat 2.5 billion times in an average life of 72 years. It beats at around 60 times a minute with each beat pushing blood around the body 1,440 times every day. It can increase to 200 beats a minute when running.
If our lungs were spread out flat, they would provide enough parking space for 7 cars. Babies breathe around 25 times a minute whereas an adult rate slows to about 15 times a minute. On average, this equates to 23,000 times a day. The rush of air produced by a cough moves at a speed of 600mph.
In our stomach is the digestive tract. Stretched end to end, the entire tract measures 30 ft.
Blood travels along the 62,000 miles of arteries, capillaries and veins in the body. The distance from Swansea to London is about 192 miles. That’s 161 return journeys. Now, do you appreciate that you and I are wonderfully made?
Each adult has nearly 45 miles of nerves. The nervous system is like a highly sophisticated computer co-ordinating all the actions of the body.
Human bone is as strong as granite and 1 block of bone the size of a matchbox could withstand 9 tonnes. The femur (thigh bone) is the largest bone in the body. At birth, babies have 350 bones, but many fuse together to create the 206 bones of an adult.
Now, how about nails? They are so hard that they are 40 times more resistant to fracture than stone. It takes 3 months to replace an entire finger nail with the thumb growing at the slowest rate.
We use 72 muscles to speak each of the 4,800 words we say in a day. The number of muscles we use depends on the movement we make. For example, it takes 17 facial muscles to smile and 42 to frown.
Finally, the feet carry us around 100,000 miles in a lifetime. That is a return journey from Swansea to London times 260. The average person takes 8-10,000 steps in a day and, when we walk, we use 200 muscles.
So please remember that your body is a fantastic design because the designer is fantastic. Do thank God for making you YOU and thank Him that nobody else in the world is like you? The fact of the matter is that when you and I were born, the mould had no further use. Thank you God!
Published by permission of Your542Day - Written by Nigel Binding for Messages with Meaning (29/12/20)
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