Things Your Body is Doing and You Don’t Even Know It

Your body is a robust machine, doing a million things a minute. Often you have no clue how hard it is working or what it is doing. Here are 10 things your body is doing and you don’t even know it!

Coordination is an intriguing thing that your body does without you even knowing it. It’s likely you have never thought about how you walked down a flight of stairs. It truly does not require too much thought. However, just simply walking or going down a flight of stairs requires sensory input to your brain from your balance sensors.

These special sensors detect where your body is in space and keeps your brain apprised of the situation. This information determines how your muscles will move in the right way at the right time so you stay upright. Your brain is keeping you balanced without even knowing it.

Your immune system is constantly working to keep you healthy. You might not give it much thought unless you are sick, but your immune system is working hard to fight off diseases, viruses, bacteria, etc. Everyday, you come into contact with countless germs that live on many surfaces you touch.

What you probably don’t realize is that there is almost always a battle going on in your body. Your immune system is fighting off invaders and trying to keep your systems balanced. You do not have to be ill for your immune system to be hard at work.

You may never notice a difference or any change to your skin day by day. However, your body is creating new skin cells all the time. Each month, your skin completely regenerates a new layer, and again, and again. As your skin constantly turns over, it maintains a healthy barrier between you and the world.

Now you might be wondering where all this skin goes as it comes off and is replaced by newer, healthier cells. It basically becomes dust in the wind. In one year, it would equal only about one pound. That is why you likely do not even realize you are shedding skin, constantly.

Your heart is beating right now and you probably haven’t thought about it until you read this sentence. Also, there is usually nothing you can do to change its tempo, unless you speed up or slow down.

There are many controls at work with the beat of your heart. These controls work to keep your heart pumping an adequate amount of blood whether you are sleeping, running, stressed out or in danger.

Another balancing act you are likely unaware of is the balance of electrolytes. To keep your body functioning normally, your level of electrolytes must hit all the right levels and your body is doing this without your knowledge.

From your brain, all the way down to tiny individual cells, regulation is happening. Sodium, potassium, chloride and bicarbonate are the electrolytes found in your blood chemistry. They help keep your body’s fluids regular.

Repairing and rebuilding your bones is what is happening in your body right now. It might not seem like they need to do this, but they do change with your body. Typically, 10% of your bone mass will be replaced each year. If you do the math, you will have a brand new skeleton every 10 years!

If you lift weights in the gym, you might think your body is doing all the hard work while pumping iron. However, the real work comes after the pump. Even if it’s not in the gym, your muscles are adapting.

For example, you could have a new job that requires you to stand on your feet more often or any new physical activity means your muscles are going to amp up. You might first feel it in the soreness that happens to your muscles after beginning the new activity. Then your body adjusts by building the muscles and strengthening the tendons and ligaments in preparation for more activity.

Your eyes have the complicated task of keeping your vision proper in light and darkness. Your brain is constantly keeping tabs on the amount of light the iris of your eye lets in or keeps out. The iris expands or contracts due to the amount of light that helps you maintain adequate vision.

There is a whole lot going with your body and often you have no clue. Your body is working hard to keep you healthy, healing and happy. There’s no way we could make out body function at optimal levels if we were left in charge.