Why is Your Second Toe Longer Than The Rest? Find Out Now!

And 15 other weird facts about our body that we did not know

By Kimmy
Why is Your Second Toe Longer Than The Rest? Find Out Now!

Learn more about Morton's toe and how common it is!

As they say about fingerprints, our feet are also unique. Have you ever noticed your toes are different than your friends? Well, probably your big toe is the longest while your friend has a longer second toe.

Commonly referred to as the Morton's toe, having the second toe as the longest toe is actually very common. Among 40% of people have their second toe as the longest toe, out of which men comprises more of the percentage.

There has no concret scientific explanation as to why the length of our toes varies. Whether or not it is linked to evolution or something else is yet to be discovered. It could be simply due to genetic selection. Like being born as a blondie or a burnette.

Having the Morton's toe is nothing out of the extraordinary. Either your big toe is the longest or your second toe, for the rest, they should be longer in size from left to right. However, having the Morton's toe might cause discomfort when walking due to the second toe sticking out. In extreme cases, toe shortening surgey is required to fix the problem.

With that, there are plenty of other interesting facts about our body that you didn't know about! Let's find out.

15 other weird facts about our body that we did not know

1. You are never really itchy

Source: http://Giphy.com

A lot of times we feel itchy for no reason and we just want to keep scratching the spot vigorously. That's right, it's actually for no reason at all. Our nerve system sometimes can get it wrong and malfunction, if you will call it that, sends a signal to the brain that we need to scratch this particular spot, not because we are itching, but because we should scratch it.

2. Your senses are heightened when needed

Why do we have the ability to sleep through a storm but wake up as soon as our baby rolls over? Our senses work in fascinating ways. When we feel safe in an environment with nothing to concern about, sleeping through a hurricane isn't so hard. But when your maternal instinct is triggered, or when you are sleeping at the airport, train station, where you feel something dangerous might happen, even the slightest movement would wake you up. Our senses are designed to protect ourselves. We stay more alerted during sleep when we see fit. However, raising your senses long term coz to lead to sleep deprivation, which is why in the long run, you are the most comfortable sleeping in bed by yourself, worrying about no one and nothing.

3. Brushing your teeth affects your sense of taste

Milk, orange juice and everything tastes weird after you brush your teeth. The chemicals in toothbrush that clean your teeth mess up your taste buds, causing a temporary diagnose dysfunction and your taste buds can't recognise the simplest taste. Also due to these chemicals, you are adviced to wait for 10 minutes to eat after brushing your teeth, or not destroy the natural protective layer on your teeth.

4. Goosebumps are useless

Why do we get goosebumps? They are useless and not aesthetically appealing. Back in the caveman period of time, humans get goosebumps when under a threatening situation. Their hair stands up so they appear larger to fright off their enemy, a behavior still striving in the animal kingdom.

It was useful thousands of years ago. Now, it's just an unappealing evolution trait that we didn't manage to get rid of. We no longer need goosebumps to scare off enemy, hopefully, and therefore, goosebumps will be a part of the mark our ancestors left for us.

5. Brain freeze is a headache

Source: http://Giphy.com

The sharp, shooting pain kind of sensation you get from touching the cold ice cream with your teeth is actually a quick headache. Your nerve system sends a signal to the brain that you are receiving something less than ordinary and sends a pain signal to the brain to stop you from eating it, to save you.

Brain freeze is highly common. Some people will never get used to it while some never gets it. It doesn't depend on the food you eat. It's more about your body tolerance and how your nerve system responds to it.

6. You are likely to eat 6 insects a night during sleep

Sounds pretty disgusting, right? We might have, on average, eaten 6 bugs a night during sleep, such as ants, flies, mosquitos etc. Things that crawl on our lips, we tend to swallow them. This is a disgusting fact for most to accept. Luckily, you're never awake when it happens. What happens in your sleep stays in your sleep.

7. We blush because of adrenaline

We blush when we see our crush, or when something embarrassing happened to us. Blushing is an adrenaline rush our body sends when we feel uneasy in situations. We are worried about how to act, how to get ourselves out of the awkward situation. All these spark off the adrenaline rush and we blush because of the surge. The only way to control yourself from blushing is to control your emotion and not let the strong sense takes over you.

8. We yawn to regulate blood flow

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For the longest time, scientists believe we yawn to gain more oxygen in the body to wake us up. That may not be the whole truth. Lately, scientists have shifted to the belief that we yawn to regulate our brain temperature and blood flow, so we wake up easier. Yawning usually comes with scretching our limbs and it increases our blood flow circulating our body. We feel warmer and more active.

9. Our intestines are four times our height

Our intestines are so neatly folded in our body that we don't really think about how long they are. An average person's intestines are four times of their height. Our long intestines are to digest food more systematically, to recognise what's nutrition and what goes out of our body. Our long intestines provide a better digestive system to our body.

10. The longest nerve goes from your head to your pinky finger

Our nervous system is so complex that not even the best doctor can draw out all the nerves in a human body. For all humans, the longest nerve is the one that goes from our head to the tip of our pinky finger. Our nerves are so entwined that scientists are still trying to figure out how exactly does our body works.

11. You can never tickle yourself

No matter how hard you try to tickle yourself, it won't work. Your brain sends a signal to predict how you feel when you try to tickle yourself. The lack of a surprise element makes it impossible to tickle yourself. When other people tickle you, it's only due to the element of surprise that you feel ticklish as your brain can't find a proper prediction for it. That also explains why some people are only ticklish some of the time, if you can control yourself hard enough, you will hold off the feeling of being tickled and not feel anything.

12. Your taste buds age as well

Old people seem to over-season their dishes because they can't taste very well anymore. Our taste buds, like the rest of our body, age with us. They lose sensitivity in tasting food, often leading us to believe the food is tasteless when it's, in fact, already too salty. Remembering the right amount of herbs to put it is important as you age. After you've reached a certain age, you can only rely on your experience to know how much to put in, rather than your taste buds.

13. You lose bones as you grow up

No, we are not talking about bone density. We are talking about the actual number of bones, literally. Babies are born with roughly 300 bones. As we grow up, a few bones would fuse together, also a reason why adults tend to be less flexible than babies, leaving us with 206 bones as a grown up. Bones merging together creates a stronger body structure, but also less agile.

14. Humans are the only species to cry out of sadness

All those clips you see on the internet of animals crying are heartbreaking, but in fact, humans are the only animals capable of crying out of emotinal response. Other animals tear up for physical needs such as moisturising their eyes. So, the animals aren't really crying, you are.

15. You're more prone to feel sad if you look down all the time

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It's true what they say, "don't look down if you want to go forward". Although it is unclear why looking down tend to trigger our sad memories, it is believed that when people are sad, they tend to avoid eye contact and indulge in self-isolation. Looking down also triggers a sense of loneliness. If you don't want to think about sad memories, look up and move forward!

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Summary

All the fantastic facts about our body that we didn't know before! How many of them shocked you to your core? Secrets about your body that you didn't know existed! Our body works in mysterious ways that even scientists are struggling to provide all the answers. Everyday we find out a bit more about ourselves. Share all these fun facts with your friends to see how many do they know!

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