OUR BODY IS THE HERO

A Briton named Robert Sohart was exploring a forest when he saw a wild pig coming at him from the front. Only a miracle could save him. And the miracle happened - a complex, wonderful chain reaction inside his body.

- Shri K. K. Bajaj

How the body performs miracles to protect itself.

Instantaneously, as fear shook Mr. Sohart, all these things happened: his liver injected glycogen into his circulatory stream, the glycogen breaking down into blood sugar. His breath came faster, pumping more oxygen into his bloodstream to convert blood sugar into energy. His supra-renal glands pumped out adrenalin, which aided the utilization of glycogen. His heart sped up, driving blood-borne substances faster through his body. As the blood vessels contracted, more blood became available to his muscles. Sohart ran, jumped, caught a branch of a tree, and pulled himself to safety as the pig raged below. A few hours later after friends had driven off the pig, Sohart tried to reach the branch of the tree again. He missed by more than a foot.

Such miracles within the body are not unusual. Every hour the body performs some minor miracle to protect itself.

Take the example of the blink of an eye. Surrounded by dust, we would be blinded if it were not for us blinking. Let a dust particle approach the eye, and even though the particle is too small to register for normal sight, the retina sends a message to a nerve centre. From there, a command shoots to the upper lid and down come the fan-like lashes, creating a tiny gust to blow the dust aside while the lid covers the eye itself. If a particle, somehow, eludes these safeguards, another miracle takes place. Tear glands gush and wash out all save the most firmly lodged irritants.

The inside of the human body is a busy workshop.