Parts of your body you don’t need to live
The human body is an amazing machine. Despite its apparent fragility, it is strong and, fortunately, whether due to accidents, diseases or other reasons (such as malformations in the fetus), we possess parts of the body that we do not need. Some, in fact, are useful to us in childhood and others, are redundant. Hence it is possible to lose large portions of vital organs and survive (we can live with only half a brain, for example).
Evolution always takes its time to make certain adjustments, so we all end up with certain things we don’t need. In the case of organs, we have already seen that a human being can live with half his thinking organ and that we are even able to lead a relatively normal life without the presence of some of them.
It may surprise you but, although that machine that is our body has an important function for each of its parts, over the course of time and centuries, there are some organs that have lost some sense of being, some functionality, So if we don’t have them, our day-to-day life isn’t going to be altered, or at least not to a great extent.
What organs can we survive without?
Tonsils, for example, although they protect us from bacterial invasion through the airways, are not essential. The same applies to the appendix, spleen, male nipples, male and female reproductive devices, or gallbladder. There are many more. Let’s find out why they are expendable.
As you know, humans have two kidneys; the funny thing is we only need one to survive. We can be born with just one kidney, donate one of them or lose one after an injury and it wouldn’t cause us any health problems. In general, single-kidney individuals have few or no health problems and normal life expectancy, according to the National Kidney Foundation. Technically, we could live without kidneys, but we would need dialysis, because the kidneys remove toxins from the blood and control the water and salts in our body.
As for women, their uterus may be removed in a hysterectomy as a treatment for cancer, uterine fibroma, chronic pelvic pain, or other reasons. In fact, according to the National Institutes of Health, approximately one in three women in the United States has undergone this procedure at the age of 60. As for men, testicles may be removed as a treatment for testicular cancer without affecting their survival.
The gallbladder is an internal sac that contains bile (produced by the liver) and releases it slowly into the digestive tract. It also causes painful stones and can cause problems from cancer and inflammation. Good? Most people who have to have surgery to remove the gallbladder don’t notice much difference in day to day.
The point of Darwin or tuber of Darwin, is a small fold of skin that we can find in the upper area of the ear. This thickening, present in many people, has no clear origin. However, studies show that it could have been a joint that in the past allowed the ear to turn or retract.
The third eyelid or stem semilunaris is a small fold of the conjunctiva of the eye that we can find next to the tear duct. Although it is not necessary for survival or vision, it serves a purpose in our organism. During the movement of the eyes, it ensures the drainage of tears and sweeps away the residue from the eye.
Logically the hair that we have in the head serves to protect us and to isolate the heat, the hair of the eyebrows protect our eyes from sweat and the male facial hair can play a role in the sexual attraction, But why do we need body hair? It’s certainly something we can live without.
The Jacobson organ or vomeronasal organ is found in the olfactory system of amphibians, reptiles and mammals. Described as chemoreceptors, this specialized sensory system of the nose is used to detect chemicals; in the case of humans, pheromones.
In addition to being extremely painful to remove, the wisdom teeth are useless, with the exception of misaligning our jaws and hindering dental hygiene. Today, about 35% of the world’s population no longer develops even its third and last set of molars.
Located at the end of the spine, the coccyx is composed of three to five separate or fused vertebrae under the sacral bone, that is, the final segment of the spine in the human body. It’s a vertebrae left over from when our distant ancestors had tails.
These tiny muscles are attached to our hair follicles through smooth muscle fibers. When these muscles contract, they cause the hair to stand up, commonly known as 'goosebumps'. Unnecessary.
Although the appendix is located in the lower abdomen, where the large intestine is started, it does not play any key role in digestion. Experts suggest that it may have had a purpose when the human diet consisted mainly of plants. Now all it does is get inflamed and infected before it breaks, that is, when someone develops appendicitis.
Why do men have nipples? It’s because all human fetuses develop nipples even before our gender (male or female) is determined, so even though men’s nipples don’t have a function, are present for a long-standing reason of embryonic development.
Technically, tonsils are lymph nodes (important for the immune system). However, despite their relevance, tonsils become infected and inflamed so frequently that doctors eventually remove them. Many times they cause more problems than benefits. We can live without them.
The spleen filters blood and helps the body fight infections, but it is not essential for human survival. This organ can be removed if, for example, it is damaged. However, people without a spleen are more likely to get infections.
It is a muscle that begins under the shoulder in the first rib, in the lower face of the collarbone. The truth is that since our species began to walk upright it is not really useful.
Sometimes the whole stomach is removed as a treatment for stomach cancer, a procedure called total gastrectomy. In this procedure, the small intestine is connected to the esophagus. People who have this procedure are fed serum for a few weeks while they recover. After this time, they can eat most of the food, except that they need to eat smaller meals and take dietary supplements if they have trouble absorbing vitamins, as reported by the National Health Service of England.
As with the stomach, patients with colon cancer or Crohn’s disease may have their colon removed. It is also eliminated, in some cases, to prevent colon cancer itself. The human being is able to live without colon, but it requires the use of an out-of-body pouch to collect stool or perform a surgical procedure to create a waste bag in the small intestine to replace the colon, according to the Mayo Clinic.
You cannot live without a brain! It is the star organ of our organism. But we can live with half of it and lead a relatively normal life. The consequence: we lose the use of the eye and the hand of the opposite hemisphere to remove us from the brain.
There is a small triangular muscle called the pyramidal muscle that attaches to the pubic bone. It looks like a bag and is believed to be a remnant of mammals with a bag. Either way, we don’t need it. Twenty percent of the population wasn’t even born with one; some of us still have one. Like most unnecessary parts of the body, if you hurt it, it hurts.
The prostate utricle, also known as the male vagina, is located next to the prostate. As with nipples, it is part of this evolution of embryonic development that in men serves no purpose and has no function. It’s a conduit that leads to no other structure.