The human body seems like a pretty fragile thing.
Your bones can break after falling just a few feet.
One piece of bad food and you’re hugging the toilet for hours.
But while your body may be pretty fickle in those kinds of ways, it can actually withstand
some pretty insane stuff.
How far can we push our bodies?
While all humans have similar makeups, each body has different thresholds for different
extremes.
Your diet, genes, exercise habits and overall health can all impact how your body faces
challenges.
So just because one person was able to do some crazy feat, that does not mean that your
body can too.
And we definitely don’t suggest you try.
Seriously.
Humans have reached some insane heights, depths, distances and temperatures to prove the human
body is one rock solid machine.
Take Wim Hof for example, aka “The Iceman”.
He’s hiked Everest in just shorts, run a half marathon barefoot in the snow, and taken
the longest ice bath recorded.
Almost 2 hours![2] His practice of meditation, specific breathing techniques, and regular
exposure to cold temperatures has been proven to help prep the body for strenuous activity
and boost immune system functionality!
How much cold one person can handle before it gets deadly depends on a lot of things,
from the person’s health to whether they’re wet or dry.
But as far as core body temperature vgoes, it’s generally thought that anything below
70 degrees Fahrenheit is deadly.
The lowest temperature ever recorded that didn’t end in death?
56.7 degrees.
Heat is similar in the sense that every situation is different.
Humidity, personal limits, access to water all affect how likely you’d be to kick the
bucket.
But the body starts to overheat and heat stroke sets in when your body temperature exceeds
103F.
And dying from heat is more common than you may think.
Almost 700 Americans die from it every year.
Some athletes can do some pretty extreme stuff too.
Meet Dean Karnazes.
This guy ran 350 miles in one go.
I have no idea how he went to the bathroom and honestly, I don’t want to know.
Another human with superhuman strength?
Eddie Hall.
He holds the record for the heaviest deadlift, at 1,100 pounds.
This lift burst a ton of blood vessels in his head and almost killed him though.
Sooo yeah, don’t try this.
What about drinking water?
How long can humans go without it?
Just like all the other things we’ve mentioned, this timeframe depends on a lot, especially
how much fluid has been expelled by sweating, urinating and exhaling. 3 days is the most
commonly cited number for the average person, but one guy allegedly survived 18 days without
water!
Then there’s food.
Again, it’s hard to define the threshold for everyone but three weeks is said to be
the average length of time a human can go without it.
The longest anyone ever went before dying was 74 days in 1920.
That’s a long time.
To sum it up, you humans are so strong and can withstand so much.
*sigh* I wish I was a human.
Again, we don’t recommend you do any of these things.
But if you do consider safely trying any, may I suggest scuba diving?
It’s the best.
What do you think is the coolest thing the human body can do?
Let us know
in the comments.