I attempt to source all facts I reference.
First, it’s the ethical thing to do. Secondly, most of these fascinating freaky factoids are found via the World Wide Web and much data floating in cyberspace is, well quite frankly, ka-ka. So, in attempting to validate a statistic I heard, I discovered a few fascinating facts about these bodies in which we live.
Since I’m turning 60 soon, I found it fascinating that according to HowStuffWorks.com, by that age, 60 percent of men and 40 percent of women snore; with the average snort volume hovering around 60 decibels, about the same loudness as standard speech. Not to be outdone, some punch out more than 80 decibels while slumbering, about as loud as a pneumatic drill breaking concrete. Related fact: According to the Hearing Loss Association of America, one-third of all Americans has hearing loss by age 65, which now makes complete sense since we’re sleeping next to pneumatic drills eight hours a night.
According to a report from Brazil, human hair grows a little less than 2/100 of an inch per day.
The actual speed can adjust depending on age, genetics, and hormones. So, should you commence growing your lovely locks the day you were born and never cut them, living 79.8 years (average U.S. life span according to the WHO in 2013); your hair would extend 41.26 feet. Maybe there was more truth to the Rapunzel fairy tale than we knew.
Yet according to Guiness World Records, the longest hair anyone ever grew was a Vietnamese gentleman who steered clear of his barber for 31 years.
Although the length was officially recorded as a little over 20 feet, the peculiarity is that not one strand of hair was probably longer than one yard. Here’s why: This shaggy chap didn’t shampoo very often. I mean, I kind of understand; after all, how long would it take to blow dry that mane? But, dude, really, there’s lots of oil in hair and if one doesn’t clean it, it becomes matted and all manner of debris clings to it. So, the theory (this is true) was that this gentleman’s mop wasn’t as long as it appeared; it’s just the strands that fell out all stuck to it and gave the impression of extra length. Yick.
So, back to the initial issue; as they say, rules are made to be broken.
(Sorry, I don’t know the source.) Therefore, I’m violating my own decree because I don’t know whether it is true or not, but I learned that we gain 2/1000 of a pound of each and every day. For the sake of argument, let’s say it is. Two one-thousandths of a pound is not much, about three-fifths the weight of a paperclip or four times that of a raindrop. But add it up day by day and the result is we gain about one pound a year — just by surviving. Referencing again average lifespan, we therefore will pack on nearly 80 pounds in our days on this planet by doing nothing. How unfair is that!
So, always the helper and looking for quick, easy methods to fight back waistline bulge, I discovered we burn about 60 calories per hour watching TV (Harvard Medical School Health Publications). Since one must drop 3,500 calories in a year just to counterbalance the 16 ounces we’re gaining, the solution is simple: Watch television another 67 minutes a week and you’ll maintain your weight! (Double it and watch the pounds fall off!)
Of course, I couldn’t find a source for those facts; you’ll have to take my word on it.
Besides, I’m sure you’ll find it on the Internet.
About the author: Scott “Q” Marcus is a nationally known weight loss expert for baby boomers and the CRP (Chief Recovering Perfectionist) of www.ThisTimeIMeanIt.com He will be conducting a seminar in Eureka on July 19. More info can be found at https://thistimeimeanit.com/HumboldtSeminar. Sign up this week and he’ll give you a free autographed copy of one of his books when you attend.
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