The Book of the Bizarre: Freaky Facts and Strange Stories (61 page)

GET PREGNANT, STOP ARTHRITIS

No one knows why, but pregnancy is known to alleviate the stiffness of arthritis.

MOVE OVER, GENE SIMMONS

A disease called hypertrophy causes the tongue to enlarge. Once enlarged, it may become too big for the
mouth and can grow long enough to reach one's chest. Side effects include possible deformity of the teeth and mouth, and the afflicted person may choke on her or his tongue.

ESCAPE THE COLD

If you're ever desperate for a winter free of the common cold and flu, go to the North Pole. It's impossible to catch a cold there, because the air is too frigid for the microorganisms that foster colds to survive.

DID YOU KNOW . . . ?

• One in five women suffer from migraines.
  
• The human body contains 32 million bacteria per square inch. Our bodies are ever evolving. Our little toes and appendixes are getting smaller because we don't need them, and our teeth are shrinking in size due to the amount of processed and cooked foods we consume.
  
• The average human will shed about 1.5 pounds of skin particles every year, and by seventy years of age, that adds up to 105 pounds.
  
• Humans lose and then regenerate their outer epidermis about every month, making almost a thousand new skins in an average life span.
  
• The human body is composed of around 10 trillion cells. On any given day three billion of those cells die and are replaced, except for the ones in your brain. Once they die, they are gone forever.
  
• The rarest blood type is type A-H and has been found in less than a dozen people.
  
• A person will die from total lack of sleep sooner than from starvation. Death will occur after about ten days without sleep, while starvation takes a few weeks.
  
• A sneeze can exceed 100 mph.
  
• Beards are the fastest growing hairs on the human body.
  
• Fingernails grow faster than toenails.
  
• The brain is composed of 85 percent water, and its consistency is somewhere between that of jelly and cooked pasta.
  
• Three hundred million cells die in the human body every minute.
  
• If stretched out, the human small intestine would measure twenty-two feet long.
  
• Arriazia is a disorder that prevents women from growing breasts.
  

WHEN I GROW UP, I WANT TO BE A PINEAPPLE

Contagious follicular keratosis causes the sufferers to grow small, yellow, spiny growths all over the body.

EVERY MAN'S DREAM COME TRUE