Enhance Your Understanding!
DID YOU KNOW?❓
Birds do not urinate.
Horses and cows can sleep while standing.
Bats are the only mammals that can fly. Their leg bones are so slender, making it impossible for them to walk.
Even with their eyes shut, snakes can see through their eyelids.
Despite their fluffy white fur, polar bears actually have black skin.
A housefly typically lives for just 2 to 3 weeks.
For every person, there are roughly one million ants.
A touch of alcohol on a scorpion drives it mad, causing it to sting itself to death.
Alligators and sharks can live for up to 100 years.
A honeybee has two stomachs—one for storing honey and another for food.
Elephants weigh less than the tongue of a blue whale, whose heart is as big as a car.
Blue whales are the largest creatures ever to roam the Earth.
A cockroach can live about a week without its head before it dies of hunger.
When a dolphin is unwell or injured, its distress signals prompt other dolphins to help it rise to the surface to breathe.
A snail can sleep for up to 3 years.
The fastest bird, the spine-tailed swift, can achieve speeds up to 106 mph (the peregrine falcon can reach 108 mph).
A cow produces nearly 200,000 glasses of milk over her lifetime.
A leech has 32 brains.
The average outdoor cat lives just 3 years, whereas indoor cats can live 16 years or longer.
Sharks are immune to every disease, including cancer.
A mosquito’s proboscis has 47 sharp edges to pierce through skin and even protective clothing.
The human brain has a memory capacity of over 2.5 million petabytes, equating to 2,500,500 gigabytes.
Knowledge is Power!
What is the biological phenomenon responsible for the gradual loss of muscle mass, strength, and function with age? This is known as Sarcopenia! Sarcopenia refers to the progressive reduction of skeletal muscle mass and strength as we age. Its impact varies for each person.
How to ward off Sarcopenia?
Stay Active: Whenever possible, stand instead of sitting and sit rather than lying down! Moving around is crucial for preventing muscle deterioration.
Encourage Motion in Older People: When an elderly individual is unwell or in the hospital, avoid telling them to rest in bed. Encourage walking unless they are too frail to do so. Being bedridden for just a week can cause a 5% muscle mass loss, which seniors may struggle to regain fully.
Sarcopenia is more worrying than osteoporosis: With osteoporosis, the main risk is falls, whereas sarcopenia not only diminishes quality of life but also raises blood sugar levels due to muscle mass loss.
Inactive muscles lead to quicker muscle deterioration: Leg muscles weaken swiftly when not used. Sitting or lying down restricts leg movement, weakening them. Activities such as walking, jogging, or cycling are fantastic ways to build and maintain muscle mass.
Aging Begins from the Feet Up! As you age, keep your legs moving and strong. If you don’t use your legs for just two weeks, you could lose the strength equivalent to a decade! Regular exercises like walking and cycling are essential for maintaining muscle strength.
The feet support the entire body’s weight, making them vital for mobility. So, ensure you walk every day to maintain strength and mobility.
