‘What has your body done that took you by surprise?’ – 21 ways our own anatomy betrays us
We all take our bodies for granted. How can we not? They’re there the whole time, quietly doing the vital work of keeping us alive, while our brain hogs the limelight with its incessant chattering.
It’s only when our bodies start doing unexpected things that we actually notice they are there.
They’ve been discussing this on the CasualUK subreddit after BlackberryNice1270 asked ‘What has your body done that took you by surprise?’ and posted about their own experience…
I was at a very big gig on Saturday, not close to the stage, it was loud but not deafening. (Aside – how big does a gig have to be before it becomes a concert?) A guy behind me kept whistling, it was really high pitched and every time he did it I got dizzy and had to sit down. Yes, we were in the seated section, I’m old. Never happened before, even though I’ve been at louder gigs. Obviously an inner ear/balance thing but definitely surprising.
Mysterious indeed, and lots of other people had had similarly strange bodily reactions, like these…
1.
‘I burped once and a medicine capsule that I was unaware had got caught in my throat ruptured simultaneously. I blew a cloud of dust out like something from The Mummy.
Which was surprising.’
–cheeseysqueazypeas
2.
‘I have two bulging discs and two trapped major nerves. The cause? Picking up a shuttlecock.’
–Exemplar1968
3.
‘I kickbox and do Muay Thai, competed for England at taekwondo, did my back in last week by sitting at a funny angle playing on the Xbox with my lad.’
–Voodoopulse
4.
‘Booed a wrestler so hard at a show I gave myself a hiatal hernia.’
–rorschach766
5.
‘Shooty bum pain. I can go for years without it and then it’ll happen several times in a month. Wish I knew what caused it.’
–Umbragravis
6.
‘When WFH started during COVID I was sat in my kitchen and farted but followed through and shit my pants. Not done that since I was a baby.’
–Shoddy_Pie6514
7.
‘I was running a local 10k race a couple of years back and I was pushing for a decent time (for me). In the last 500m I was running just behind someone and something about their running cadence started to give me motion sickness, I had to overtake them or I may well have puked all over the course.’
–brac20
8.
‘I uncontrollably burst into tears at unusual art pieces.
Not particularly an art fan, don’t know much about art, don’t visit galleries often. But on three occasions now I’ve burst into tears at the most random pieces (like Dali’s Lobster Telephone) and felt completely consumed by the position of the piece within the overwhelming expanse of the universe.’
–JennyW93
9.
‘I was running for the bus once and I slipped on ice – completely upended myself 180° and landed upside-down on my shoulder. I managed to get the bus, but I started to feel dizzy. I completely lost my vision, it all went blurry.
I got off the bus and rang 999 as it didn’t rectify itself 5 minutes later and I was worried I’d permanently damaged myself. Turns out I had jolted my optic nerves when I had slipped, and my eye nerves were shocked. Took another 45 minutes for them to resolve.
Never been so worried. We really are just frail bags of meat.’
–EvilTaffyapple
10.
‘In my late 40s I had to stop drinking Earl Grey tea because my body has started distilling the bergamot and leaking it out through my natural body odour.
It drove me mad at first because I pulled the house apart trying to figure out where the familiar smell was coming from. It’s not unpleasant but it could get overpowering if I hadn’t showered before bed.
Other people don’t seem to notice it but if I drink a lot of something that has an oil component, then I can smell it for hours afterwards.’
–Fun-Calligrapher2363
11.
‘I sneezed while cutting my friends mum’s front lawn but I held the sneeze in, felt horrible and strange immediately after. Long story short, a few weeks later I came out of the hospital and had a pacemaker fitted. I was about 24 when this happened.
Don’t hold your sneezes in!’
–PraiseThaBreadI