Your Health Fix

The human body intrigues me.  It is a factual reminder of how similar we all are as humans.  

If you’re ever feeling alone or like you don’t fit in, just crack open an anatomy book.  There are nearly seven billion of us out there right now who look just like you inside.

We’re all made of the same stuff…33 spinal chords…an abdomen separated from the thorax (chest) by a diaphragm…a flap called the epiglottis that keeps food out of our wind pipe when we swallow so food can travel through our esophagus, stomach, intestines, and out the other end…

It’s downright fascinating how we look so different (come in varying shapes, sizes and colors) but we’re made of the same parts and pieces when you peel back the skin; the packaging is different, but the motor is the same!  We’re kind of like cars, or different variations of cookies made from the same dough.  Do you follow me?

Me!

I don’t know why symmetry is favored in the beauty department.  Haven’t you heard of those studies in which symmetrical faces are rated as most attractive?  Or read a how-to article about making your face look more symmetrical?

I have this beauty mark below my lip on the left side of my face, and I think it gives me character – an added element of interest, a one-of-a-kind stamp.  And I rock the side part and side pony tail.  I think one-shoulder shirts are hott.  And I love flaunting a flower on one side of my head.

Maybe it’s just me, but I see a lot of beauty in asymmetry.

And I love the lack of symmetry within the human body too…

Check out a picture of what’s underneath our skin, and another world of asymmetry will surface.

How the stomach and spleen are toward the left side of our abdomen, yet our liver and gallbladder are toward the right…how our heart is toward the left part of our chest…how our left lung has two lobes, but our right lung as three…how the sciatic nerve runs down the back of the right thigh….Yet we can stand on both feet in balance.  God is the most incredible creator.

This is what stands out to me as I study the Regional Atlas of the Body (the first 23 pages of the Human Body book) at 3 a.m. the first night home for winter break.

I don’t normally read science books for fun, or in the wee hours of the morning for that matter, but I couldn’t sleep.  And I haven’t taken a science course in two years, and I kind of miss it.  So here I am, studying anatomy on vacation, and adoring the discovery that my asymmetrical outside matches my asymmetrical insides.

Author Mary Roach video chats with UF's health and fitness writing class

For a woman who spent two years writing a book about dead bodies, I wouldn’t have guessed that author Mary Roach would have been be so full of life!  and hilarity!

Roach bounced around at her computer in California, giggling as she video chatted with my health and fitness writing class last week.  We fired questions at her about her writing process and her book, “Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers,” a New York Times bestseller and the required reading for our class.

Although I was disgusted by the graphic detail with which she describes cadaver dissection, human decay and composting the body, I was equally charmed by her humor and incredibly captivating writing.

The first few months Roach spends working on a novel are what she calls “randomly flailing” and a “very organic process.”

She begins her research by Google searching, e-mailing, and scheduling to visit interesting people involved with the subject she is writing about. 

She said access is usually a problem because people who work with cadavers, for instance, are very uncomfortable exposing their work to the public in fear of what the public might think.

She often bribes people them to interview with her by offering to send them a copy of one of her books.  She also offers them the contact information of the one of the sources of her books who was pleased with her.  And she tells them they can fact check her writing before it’s published.

Roach has tapped into seemingly personal and controversial topics in her novels – cadavers and the soul and sex.  She’s even given speeches  like “10 Things You Didn’t Know About Orgasm.”

“My curiosity is more powerful than my anxiety,” she told our class.

But there are two topics Roach won’t touch - religion and race.  There’s too much room to offend people there, she said.

And although I thought nothing could gross this woman out after reading “Stiff,” there are a few things that do make her squirm – watching surgeries like nose jobs and injections on TV.

The author who has inspired her most is Bill Bryson, she said.

Next up, she’s working on a book about astronauts and she plans to start one on the digestive system.  Prepare for more laughs as Roach twists humor with science.