UNIQUE FACTS OF HUMAN BODY

details About the Human Body

Can you seem the pulse in your wrist? For humans the usual pulse is 70 heartbeats per minute. Elephants have a slower pulse of 27 and for a canary it is 1000!

If all the blood vessels in your body were laid end to end, they would come to about 60,000 miles.

Abraham Lincoln likely had a health condition called Marfans syndrome. Some of its symptoms are extremely long bones, bent spine, an arm span that is longer than the individuals size, eye troubles, heart troubles and very little fat. It is a uncommon, inherited status.

In one day your heart beats 100,000 times.

Half your body’s red body-fluid cells are restored every seven days.

By the time you are 70 you will have effortlessly drunk over 12,000 gallons of water.

hacking can cause air to move through your windpipe faster than the speed of sound – over a thousand feet per second!

Germs only origin disease, right? But a widespread bacterium, E. Coli, discovered in the intestine assists us digest green vegetables and beans (also making gases – pew!). These identical pathogens also make vitamin K, which determinants blood to clot. If we didn’t have these germs we would bleed to death whenever we got a little slash!

It takes more sinews to frown than it does to grin.

That dirt on rugs and your furnishings is not only dirt. It’s mostly made of dead skin units. everyone loses millions of skin units every day which fall on the floor and get booted up to land on all the surfaces in a room. You could state, “That’s me all over.”

It takes food seven seconds to proceed from the mouth to the stomach by the esophagus.
Submitted by: Lovella

A human’s little intestine is 6 meters long.

The human body is 75% water.
Submitted by: veggykid15

Your body-fluid takes a very long journey through your body. If you could extend out all of a human’s body-fluid vessels, they would be about 60,000 miles long. That’s enough to proceed round the world two times.
Submitted by: Todd

The strongest skeletal part in your body is the femur (thighbone), and it’s hollow!
Submitted by: aquagirl

The breadth of your armspan extended out is the length of your entire body.
Submitted by: blue120

The mean human illusion lasts only 2 to 3 seconds.

The mean American over fifty will have expended 5 years waiting in lines.

The most distant you can glimpse with the naked eye is 2.4 million lightweight years away! (140,000,000,000,000,000,000 miles.) That’s the distance to the monster Andromeda Galaxy. You can see it effortlessly as a dim, large gray “cloud” nearly directly overhead in a clear night atmosphere.
Submitted by: Todd

The average person has at least seven dreams a evening.
Submitted by: Christina & Jessica

Your mind is move hardworking and conceives more at night than throughout the day.
Submitted by: Christina & Jessica

Your mind is 80% water.

85% of the community can curl their tongue into a tube.

Your tongue has 3,000 taste buds.

Your forearm (from inside of elbow to interior of wrist) is the identical length as your foot.
Submitted by: Josh

A sneeze journeys at over 100 miles per hour. Gesundheit!

Your thigh skeletal part is stronger than solid.

Your fingernails augment nearly four times as very quick as your toenails.

You blink your eyes over 10,000,000 a year.

There were about 300 skeletal parts in your body when you were born, but by the time you reach adulthood you only have 206.

The smallest skeletal parts in the human body are in your ear!
Submitted by: The Phoenix

Your mouth uses 75 sinews when you talk!
Submitted by: Devin

When you wake up in the morning you are at bigger than when you proceed to doze, because you have let your spine straighten back out after all the bending, seated, and going you have finished!
Submitted by: Katie Mae

It is unrealistic to sneeze with your eyes open.
Submitted by: Mazda Roxx

The mean development of hair is half an inch per month.
Submitted by: Amylia

If hair continues uncut, it can augment up to 5 feet long.
Submitted by: Amylia

Your tongue, eye, and jaw muscles are amidst the strongest sinews in your body.

Left handed? You are a twin killer!

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Left-handed people have long faced stigma for their unusual trait. Maybe because in many countries the left hand was associated with post-toilet cleaning, or maybe because the Bible appears to favour the right hand over the left, southpaws could often find themselves with hands tied behind their backs to force them to become accustomed to using the right hand at all times.

One theory about how left-handedness came about hypothesised that left-handed people were all originally twins, effectively two halves of a whole. The right-handed twins were assumed to have died early on in pregnancy, leaving only the unusual left-hander to survive.

As bizarre as it may sound, the theory isn’t completely absurd. It’s true that a lot of lefties were indeed one of a set of two originally, however what has since been discovered is that up to one in eight pregnancies start off as twin pregnancies. As less than 1.5% of people is a twin, it appears that the stories of people absorbing their dead twin’s remains and finding them inside tumours years later aren’t as fantastic as you’d think. Often in twin pregnancies, one twin takes significantly more blood, nourishment or womb – sorry, room – than the other, leaving the weaker twin to pass away even before their existence had been registered. From an evolutionary point of view, it’s common sense – embryos in the first stages of development are fragile little things, so Mother Nature may hedge her bets and create two in the hope that at least one will survive. Especially before the advances in maternal medicine that we are lucky enough to have today, twin pregnancies could be high risk for the mother, so the most viable foetus often does away with its sibling and enjoys the full womb service without having to share.

A Man Spent 67 Years Of His Life Stereoblind...

50 Incredibly Weird Facts About the Human Body

As long as we make efforts to take care of ourselves and live healthy, there is a good chance that our bodies will serve us well for a long time. Our bodies truly are amazing. You might be surprised at what your body is capable of after reading these 50 weird facts about the human body:

The Brain

Complex and poorly understood, the brain is what makes everything work properly. The body may be kept alive, but without the brain, a person can’t truly live. Here are some interesting and weird facts about the brain.

The brain doesn’t feel pain: Even though the brain processes pain signals, the brain itself does not actually feel pain.
Your brain has huge oxygen needs: Your brain requires 20 percent of the oxygen and calories your body needs — even though your brain only makes up two percent of your total body weight.
80% of the brain is water: Instead of being relatively solid, your brain 80% water. This means that it is important that you remain properly hydrated for the sake of your mind.
Your brain comes out to play at night: You’d think that your brain is more active during the day, when the rest of your body is. But it’s not. Your brain is more active when you sleep.
Your brain operates on 10 watts of power: It’s true: The amazing computational power of your brain only requires about 10 watts of power to operate.
A higher I.Q. equals more dreams: The smarter you are, the more you dream. A high I.Q. can also fight mental illness. Some people even believe they are smarter in their dreams than when they are awake.
The brain changes shapes during puberty: Your teenage years do more than just change how you feel; the very structure of your brain changes during the teen years, and it even affects impulsive, risky behavior.
Your brain can store everything: Technically, your brain has the capacity to store everything you experience, see, read or hear. However, the real issue is recall — whether you can access that information.
Information in your brain travels at different speeds: The neurons in your brain are built differently, and information travels along them at different speeds. This is why sometimes you can recall information instantly, and sometimes it takes a little longer.

Your Senses

You might be surprised at the amazing things your various senses can accomplish.

Your smell is unique: Your body odor is unique to you — unless you have an identical twin. Even babies recognize the individual scents of their mothers.
Humans use echolocation: Humans can use sound to sense objects in their area using echolocation. It is thought that those who are blind develop this ability to heightened effectiveness.
Adrenaline gives you super strength: Yes, with the proper response in certain situations, you really can lift a car.
Women smell better than men: Women are better than men at identifying smells.
Your nose remembers 50,000 scents: It is possible for your nose to identify and remember more than 50,000 smells.
Your hearing decreases when you overeat: When you eat too much food, it actually reduces your ability to hear. So consider eating healthy — and only until you are full.
Your sense of time is in your head: How you experience time is all about your perception. Some speculate that stress can help you experience time dilation. Apparently, time manipulation isn’t just for superheroes.

Reproduction

How we as a species reproduce offers all sorts of interesting weird facts. Here are some of the weirder things you might not know.

Your teeth are growing before birth: Even though it takes months after you are born to see teeth, they start growing about six months before you are born.
Babies are stronger than oxen: On a pound for pound basis, that is. For their size, babies are quite powerful and strong.
Babies always have blue eyes when they are born: Melanin and exposure to ultraviolet light are needed to bring out the true color of babies’ eyes. Until then they all have blue eyes.
Women might be intrinsically bi: There are sex studies that indicate that women might bisexual intrinsically, no matter how they class themselves, while men are usually either gay or straight.
Most men have regular erections while asleep: Every hour to hour and a half, sleeping men have erections — though they may not be aware of it.
Sex can be a pain reliever: Even though the “headache” excuse is often used to avoid sex, the truth is that intercourse can provide pain relief. Sex can also help you reduce stress.
Chocolate is better than sex: In some studies, women claim they would rather have chocolate than sex. But does it really cause orgasm? Probably not on its own.

Body Functions

The things our bodies do are often strange and sometimes gross. Here are some weird facts about the way your body functions.

Earwax is necessary: If you want healthy ears, you need some earwax in there.
Your feet can produce a pint of sweat a day: There are 500,000 (250,000 for each) sweat glands in your feet, and that can mean a great deal of stinky sweat.
Throughout your life, the amount of saliva you have could fill two swimming pools: Since saliva is a vital part of digestion, it is little surprise that your mouth makes so much of it.
A full bladder is about the size of a soft ball: When your bladder is full, holding up to 800 cc of fluid, it is large enough to be noticeable.
You probably pass gas 14 times a day: On average, you will expel flatulence several times as part of digestion.
A sneeze can exceed 100 mph: When a sneeze leaves your body, it does so at high speeds — so you should avoid suppressing it and causing damage to your body.
Coughs leave at 60 mph: A cough is much less dangerous, leaving the body at 60 mph. That’s still highway speed, though.

Musculoskeletal System

Find out what you didn’t know about your muscles and bones.

Bones can self-destruct: It is possible for your bones to destruct without enough calcium intake.
You are taller in the morning: Throughout the day, the cartilage between your bones is compressed, making you about 1 cm shorter by day’s end.
1/4 of your bones are in your feet: There are 26 bones in each foot, meaning that the 52 bones in account for 25 percent of your body’s 206 bones.
It takes more muscles to frown than to smile: Scientists can’t agree on the exact number, but more muscles are required to frown than to smile.
When you take a step, you are using up to 200 muscles: Walking uses a great deal of muscle power — especially if you take your 10,000 steps.
Your tongue is the strongest muscle in your body: Compared to its size, the tongue is the strongest muscle. But I doubt you’ll be lifting weights with it.
Bone can be stronger than steel: Oncrison, since steel is denser and has a higher tensile strength.

Unnecessary Body Parts

We have a number of body parts that are, well, useless. Here are some facts about the body parts we don’t actually need.

Coccyx: This collection of fused vertebrae have no purpose these days, although scientists believe it’s what’s left of the mammal tail humans used to have. It may be useless, but when you break your coccyx, it’s still painful.
Pinkie toe: There is speculation that since we no longer have to run for our dinner, and we wear sneakers, the pinkie toe‘s evolutionary purpose is disappearing — and maybe the pinkie itself will go the way of the dodo.
Wisdom teeth: This third set of mcrowding the mouth and sometimes causing pain.
Vomeronasal organ: There are tiny (and useless) chemoreceptors lining the inside of the nose.
Most body hair: While facial hair serves some purposes, the hair found on the rest of body is practically useless and can be removed with few ill effects.
Female vas deferens: A cluster of dead end tubules near the ovaries are the remains of what could have turned into sperm ducts.
Male Uterus: Yeah, men have one too — sort of. The remains of this undeveloped female reproductive organ hangs on one side of the male prostate gland
Appendix: Yep, your appendix is basically useless. While it does produce some white blood cells, most people are fine with an appendectomy.

Random Weird Body Facts

Here are a few final weird facts about the human body.

Your head creates inner noises: It’s rare, but exploding head syndrome exists.
Memory is affected by body position: Where you are and how you are placed in your environment triggers memory.
You can’t tickle yourself: Go ahead. Try to tickle yourself.
Being right-handed can prolong your life: If you’re right-handed, you could live up to nine years longer than a lefty.
Only humans shed emotional tears: Every other animal that produces tears has a physiological reason for doing so.

What Happens to Your body if you stop smoking Right now?

I think one of the main reasons it’s so hard to quit smoking is because all the benefits of quitting and all the dangers of continuing seem very far away. Well, here’s a little timeline about some of the more immediate effects of quitting smoking and how that will affect your body RIGHT NOW.

* In 20 minutes your blood pressure will drop back down to normal.
* In 8 hours the carbon monoxide (a toxic gas) levels in your blood stream will drop by half, and oxygen levels will return to normal.
* In 48 hours your chance of having a heart attack will have decreased. All nicotine will have left your body. Your sense of taste and smell will return to a normal level.
* In 72 hours your bronchial tubes will relax, and your energy levels will increase.
* In 2 weeks your circulation will increase, and it will continue to improve for the next 10 weeks.
* In three to nine months coughs, wheezing and breathing problems will dissipate as your lung capacity improves by 10%.
* In 1 year your risk of having a heart attack will have dropped by half.
* In 5 years your risk of having a stroke returns to that of a non-smoker.
* In 10 years your risk of lung cancer will have returned to that of a non-smoker.
* In 15 years your risk of heart attack will have returned to that of a non-smoker.

So, you have more immediate things to look forward to if you quit now besides just freaking out about not being able to smoke. Quit now!

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT HUMAN BRAIN

The human brain is a complicated organ which has been a mystery for many people since ages. It is a very complex structure which has enormous power and energy. There have been some doctors and scientists who devoted their lives to find the truth of human brain. It is such a wonderful organ in human body that everyone feels surprised when one comes to know the amazing and interesting facts about human brain. You may wonder if you know some interesting, amazing and fun facts about human brain as some of the facts are given here:

Our brain can think quicker than a computer. Our brain contains 75% of water. Human brain produces enough energy to illuminate a light bulb. Human brain distinguishes between the tickle by self and others that's why you cannot tickle yourself. Blind people also dream.

So there are many interesting, amazing and fun facts about human brain. You may need to know whether a human dreams in black and white or in colour. Do our deodorants have any role in our memory? How much powerful our brain is? So go ahead and find 77 interesting facts to quench your thirst of knowing the interesting, amazing and fun facts about human brain.

The human brain weighs about 3 lbs.

The cerebrum is the largest part of the brain. Cerebrum makes up 85% of the brain's weight.

Human skin Weighs twice as much as human brain.

The brain's grey matter is made up of neurons, which gather and transmit signals.

The white matter is made up of axons and dendrites, which make the network by which neurons send their signals.

Human brain is 40% grey matter and 60% white matter.

The brain is made up mostly of water. The brain contains approximate 75% water that's why people feel light headed, dizzy or can't remember anything when they are dehydrated.

A human brain contains about 100 billion neurons, the same number of stars in our galaxy. This number is about 16 times larger than the amount of people on the planet.

The left hemisphere of the human brain contains 186 million more neurons than the right hemisphere of the human brain.

Every minute, 750-1000 ml of blood flow through the brain. Every minute, the brain consumes 1/5 cups of oxygen from that blood. Of that oxygen consumed, 94% will be used by the grey mater and 6% will be used by the brain's white matter.

Our brain is about 2% of our total body weight but uses 20% of our body's energy.

A single human brain generates more electrical impulses in a day that by all the telephones in the world.

After the age of 30, the human brain shrinks a quarter of a percent in mass each year.

The brain does not contain pain receptor that's why the brain cannot feel pain.

Humans have the largest brain if compared to body size. An elephant has a brain size of 0.15 percent of body weight while the size of human brain is 2% of body size.

If we talk of length of blood vessels in human brain, there are 100,000 miles of blood vessels in the brain.

The human brain contains the most fat and consists of at least 60% fat.

During early pregnancy, Neurons develop @ 250,000 per minute in the fetus.

The size of the brain is almost same as an adult and at birth.

The human brain stops growing after the age of 18.

The cerebral cortex of human brain grows thicker as it is used. The cerebral cortex is responsible for sensing and interpreting input from various sources and maintaining cognitive function.

If properly stimulated, a child can have 25% more of learning capacity.

A human brain continues to create new neurons throughout life with response to mental activities.

A loud reading promotes brain development.

The emotions such as fear, shyness, joy, happiness are developed at birth. The nurturing of the child shapes these emotions in brain.

Touch is the first sense which is developed in uterus. The cheeks and lips can feel touch at about 8 weeks and the rest of the body feels touch at about 12 weeks.

Children who are bilingual before the age of five have their brain structure altered.

Child abuse can check the development of the brain.

Human brain uses 20% of the total oxygen in body.

Human brain use 20% of the blood circulating in the body.

If the human brain loses blood for 8 to 10 seconds., the body loses consciousness.

Information can be processed as fast as 120 meters/sec or as slowly as 0.5 meters/sec in human brain.

While awake, the brain generates 10-25 watts of power. This much power is enough to power a light bulb.

A yawn sends more oxygen to the brain, thus working to cool down the brain and wake it up.

The neocortex is responsible for language and consciousness and it makes up about 76% of the human brain.

The old saying that humans only use 10% of their brain is not true. Each part of the brain has a sell known function.

Without oxygen, the brain can live for 4 to 6 minutes and then it stars to die. If the brain lives without oxygen for 5 to 10 minutes, it will result in permanent brain damage.

The highest human body temperature ever recorded was 115.7 degrees and the man survived.

Excessive stress can alter brain structure, brain cells and brain function.

Oxytocin (one of the hormones responsible for producing feelings of love in the brain has certain benefits to control repetitive behaviours of autistic people.

According to a study done on one million students in New York, the students who ate lunches without artificial flavors, preservative, and dyes performed 14% better in IQ tests than the students who ate lunches with these additives.

We can't tickle ourselves because our brain distinguishes between unexpected external touch and our own touch.

We are able to decide if someone is sad, in a good mood, or is angry just by reading the face. A small area in our brain named the amygdala is responsible for our ability to read someone else face.

Man and woman’s brain react differently to pain.

There is a class of people who are known as super tasters because they have more taste buds than others and their brains can detect some flavors which others cannot.

Do not scold anyone who says that he feels cold while it may not be cold for you because some people have more sensitivity to cold that n others. Their brains have some channels which send them the information of cold which may be associated with pain too.

It is found that men take decisions quickly while women take time to decide but it is also found that men can change their decisions while women try to keep with the decision once taken.

The bonding between mind and body is a strong one. There is a study which says that between 50-70% of visits to the doctor for physical ailments are caused by psychological factors.

A study says that those experiencing the sadness are more willing to spend more money in order to get rid of their sadness.

If you experience jet lags frequently, beware!!! Because it can impair your memory, mainly due to the stress hormones released.

Each time we recall a memory or have a new thought, we create a new connection in our brain.

Memory is formed by associations, so if we want to remember things, make associations for the things to remember.

Choose your Deodorant/perfume/scent wisely as memories triggered by deo/perfume/scent have an intense and strong emotional connection.

When we recall a word or something and we feel that it is almost in our memory but we feel difficulty in saying that word- it is called Anomia.

When we sleep, our brain consolidates all the memories of the day.

If we cant' sleep, it disturbs our ability to create memories.

Estrogen and Insulin both promote better memory functions.

If we can't remember our dream it doesn't mean we don't dream. Everyone dreams.

Most of the people dream for 1-2 hours a night and the average for dreams is 4-7 dreams per night.

Our brain waves are more active when we dream than when we are awake.

If we want to remember our dream we must jot down our dr4eam immediately after waking up from dream. 5 minutes after a dream, 50% of the dream is forgotten and 10 minutes after a dream more than 90% of the dream is forgotten.

Blind people also dream.

Around 12% people dream in Black and white and others dream in colour.

When we sleep, our body produces a hormone that may prevent us from acting out our dream, leaving us virtually paralysed.

If we snore, we don't dream.

If we awake during a dream, we can remember the dream better than we sleep for full night.

Every time you blink, you brain kicks in and keeps things illuminated so that your world does not go dark. On an average, a human blinks 20,000 times a day.

Laughing up is not easy as it requires action in 5 different areas of the brain. So we must be thankful to them who make us laugh.

Have you noticed that listening to your favourite songs fills you with energy and enthusiasm? Yes it's true, music boosts brain functioning and is a good mood maker.

On a average, a human gets 70,000 thoughts a day.

Those who are ambidextrous or left-handed have a corpus collosum 11% larger than those who are right handed. Corpus Collosum is the part of the brain that bridges two halves of the brain.

A study done by Bristol Myers Squibb says that on the job headaches are very frequent in accountants then in librarians and then followed by truck/bus drivers.

You may be surprised to know that Aristotle thought that the functioning of the brain took place in heart.

It is also noteworthy that the word "brain" appears sixty six times in the plays of William Shakespeare.

Albert Einstein's brain was same in size as others humans but his brain was 35% large in the area of the brain which is responsible for spatial and mathematics perceptions.

Albert Einstein's brain weighed 1,230 grams, significantly less than the human average 3 lbs.

A human brain can thick quicker that a computer. Our brain can compute 10 to the 13th and 10 to the 16th operations per second. We can say that the human brain is capable of solving and computing problems much quicker that a computer.

How to Read Body Language

How to Read Body Language to Reveal the Underlying Truth in Almost Any Situation

You've likely heard that body language accounts for up to 55% of how we communicate, but reading non-verbal cues isn't just about broad strokes. The same gesture can indicate a number of different things depending on context. In this post, we're going to take a look at three common situations in which non-verbal cues are especially important—detecting lies, going on a date, and interviewing for a job—then explain how to interpret body language more accurately so that you can read between the lines when a person's words aren't necessarily conveying the way that they honestly feel.
We lie a lot. When having a conversation with a stranger, chances are we'll lie in the first ten minutes. Sometimes we'll lie more than once in that same period of time. These may not always be big lies, but we still do it. We all willingly partake in deception from time to time because it helps us avoid conflict, but often we're better off knowing the truth. While words can be deceptive, the human body is a terrible liar. This is where reading body language and using your own effectively, can be extremely useful when communicating with others.

First, the basics.

Body Language Basics

When you're reading body language, your primary goal is to determine whether or not a person is comfortable in their current situation. Once you do this, it's a process of using context and other cues—which we'll get into later—to figure out the specifics. There are plenty of ways a person may indicate their comfort level, but here are a few of the most common.

Positive body language:

Moving or leaning closer to you
Relaxed, uncrossed limbs
Long periods of eye contact
Looking down and away out of shyness
Genuine smiles
Negative body language:

Moving or leaning away from you
Crossed arms or legs
Looking away to the side
Feet pointed away from you, or towards and exit
Rubbing/scratching their nose, eyes, or the back of their neck
A single cue can mean a myriad of things. For example, crossed arms falls under the category of negative body language and can suggest that a person is physically cold, closed off, or frustrated. It can even indicate that they've simply had too much to eat. It's necessary to pay attention to multiple behavioral cues as a single one can be misleading. While it will help to indicate comfort level, to really understand why you need to look deeper. This means paying attention to other cues as well as their context. As we get into the specific situations, we'll look at how these cues work together to help uncover the truth in a given moment.

Photo by StockLite (Shutterstock)

Spot a Liar

One of the biggest advantages of learning to read body language well is being able to judge when someone is lying with a fair amount of accuracy. Your intuition is never going to be 100% accurate, but with a little practice you can become more aware of when you're being fed a load of crap. It's very important to recognize what kind of lies you are actually detecting. The techniques we're going to discuss in this section correspond to big lies—the lies people tell when they are uncomfortable or afraid of the truth. These skills will get you almost nowhere in detecting white lies, small lies of omission, and what people do most often: exaggerate. Those types of deception are very hard to detect, and it's important to remember that, regardless of the type of untruth, you'll never know for certain. You can, however, pick up on common cues so you know when to hold a healthy suspicion about what a person is saying.

Pamela Meyer, author of Liespotting, conducted significant research on the ways we lie to figure out the common patterns in our body language. She found that liars often exhibit much of the behavior you'd find in any other uncomfortable person, but with a few very specific additional traits.

Fake Smiles

People are bad at offering a genuine smile when they're lying. In fact, a genuine smile (often referred to as a Duchenne smile), is often said to be impossible to fake. This is why many of us end up with awkward family photos. We may think we look like we're smiling, but to most anyone it looks like we're faking it. This is because your smile is in your eyes, or, more specifically, the wrinkles around them. You display a few crows feet when you smile genuinely because your smile pushes up your cheeks which bunches up the skin near your eyes. It's fairly hard to fake this. You need to feel some sort of genuine happy emotion at the time to do it, and when you're uncomfortable this is next to impossible. This is why a non-genuine smile can be a helpful indicator of a lie in progress.

Photo by KQED

Stiff Upper Body and Too Much Eye Contact

Liars like to overcompensate when they're lying, and so they'll often try to remain still and offer eye contact. This will often result in so much eye contact it's often a little unsettling, and their body will become stiff because they're attempting not to fidget. Normally, people move and do not hold eye contact for extended periods of time. When uncomfortable, however, people will often rub their neck or eyes and look away to the side. Rather than exhibit the positive body language that would imply comfort, liars tend to opt for doing very little. This, in and of itself, is an indicator. Look for tense shoulders and an unusually high amount of eye contact and you'll be more likely to spot a liar.

Photo by Lindsay Phillips

Context and Paired Behaviors

In addition to all these non-verbal cues, you'll need to pay attention to the context. Liars will often offer more details in their stories, suggest punishments for the "real culprit" if they're being accused of something, and answer you questions with a question to give them time to fabricate an answer rather than provide you with the truth. These behaviors, when paired with standard negative body language and the previously mentioned cues that liars exhibit, give you the right mix of untrustworthy behavior. Separately they may not mean much, but together they point to dishonesty.

It's important to remember, however, that some people are just awkward and exhibit this kind of behavior with regularity. You should take the way a person normally acts into consideration as well. Watch their mannerisms and eye movements when you know they're telling the truth and compare that to the times when you think they're lying. When you see consistent change when certain statements are made, you'll know how this specific person acts when they're thinking of what to say rather than recalling information. Again, this or anything else previously mentioned isn't sufficient in detecting lies. You have to look for multiple cues or what you'll just discover that you're fooling yourself into believing you know the difference between fact and fiction.

Photo by Bifaloo

For more on lie detection, watch Pamela Meyer's TED talk and check out her book Liespotting.

Read People on a Date

When you're out on a first date, body language can be an incredibly helpful tool. If you're not paying attention to the non-verbal cues your date is exhibiting, you can often go on talking about something that makes them uncomfortable or they find unpleasant. While you don't want to go into a date hiding who you are, you do want to put your best foot forward so, in the event you are a decent match, you can bring up the riskier topics a bit later once your date already likes you. This, of course, means paying close attention to your date's behavior which can be difficult when you're supposed to be speaking charismatically and listening to what they're saying. With a little practice, however, you'll get the hang of watching for the right signals and won't have to spend much time thinking about them.

You're not looking for anything complicated on a date—just the general indications of comfort and discomfort we outlined earlier. This means you're simply paying attention to how guarded your date is with their body. Initially, most people will be fairly guarded. They'll cross their arms, keep a reasonable amount of distance, and keep their palms facing themselves. This is okay and fairly common on a first date, and your goal is to change that body language into something more open and welcoming. You'll do this naturally when you connect with them, but you can encourage open body language by providing it yourself. We tend to mimic the behavior of others to some extent, so if you're warm and comfortable it will help your date change his or her behavior to match. This means keeping your arms uncrossed and open, offering a genuine smile whenever feasible and appropriate, avoiding distance from your date, and even showing your palms. All of these things imply that you're comfortable and will help make your date more comfortable as well.

You also want to be careful not to psych yourself out just because you picked up on some negative body language. Levels of comfort fluctuate frequently on dates because it's often a little nerve-wracking for most people in the first place. Don't worry about making a few mistakes. As a piano instructor would tell you for a recital, if you play a wrong note you should just keep going. Watch the non-verbal cues to see how you're doing and focus on anything that provides positive body language. If you receive extended moments of negative body language, move on to another topic. Of course, sometimes you're just not going to click and the date is going to be an awkward evening full of negative non-verbal cues. If this happens, the same piano-playing principal applies: don't get hung up on a problem—just move on.

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Communicate Effectively in a Job Interview

Job interviews are a lot like first dates in the sense that you're trying to convince another person, whom you don't know, to like you. The key difference is that on a date you're both meeting on equal ground. When you go into a job interview, however, the interviewer has most of the power and you have, essentially, none at all. This creates an environment where you're going to likely be considerably more uncomfortable than the interviewer. You'll display negative body language as a result, and that's not good. When interviewing for a job, you want to override any non-verbal communication that makes you seem closed off.

A charismatic beginning can make all the difference, as first impressions are hugely important in hiring decisions. A smile, pleasant handshake, warm greeting, and the previously mentioned positive body language will set the stage for a comfortable interview. You don't know what sort of (potentially negative) expectations your interviewer is bringing to the table, so it's never a bad thing to override them by demonstrating you're a pleasant and charismatic individual.

Offering up the previously discussed positive body language is easier said than done when you're uncomfortable, so the best thing you can do to override that discomfort is to feel prepared. (A lack of preparation is the main reason you suck in an interview, after all.) Even if you begin to feel unprepared later on, walking into the room with confidence will at least help you make that important first impression. To prepare, research the company. Remember a few useful "sound bites" to use and fall back on if you're struggling. Know what differentiates you and makes you special and remind yourself right before you walk into the room. Preparation breeds confidence, and it'll be easier to display positive body language when you're feeling good about yourself.

While natural comfort is going to be your most valuable tool, there are a few tricks that can help you out. Assuming American cultural standards, eye contact is more important in a job interview than most other situations. If you have trouble meeting someone's eyes, just look at their mouth. You'll also want to avoid blocking your own eyes in any way, as doing so can convey discomfort (among other negative feelings). Just like on a date, leaning slightly forward is a positive cue for your interviewer. It also helps to appear to be a good listener, as you'll be talking most of the time. When you ask your own questions, or your interviewer has something to tell you, eye contact is especially important. You can also convey that you're in a "listening mode" by occasionally placing part of your hand over your mouth. This helps indicate to others that you're not going to talk and therefore paying attention.

All of this said, every interviewer is going to understand that you'll be a little nervous. It's natural and no reasonable person should or would expect anybody to walk in with no tension whatsoever. If you're a little bit tense, don't worry about it. That much is expected. In fact, too much comfort might convey to some that you're overconfident and not taking the interview seriously. In the end, your fate rests in the hands of another human being so there's only so much you can do. They may not like your shoes or prefer to hire someone younger or older. You never know what you're going to run into, but you can at least try to tip the scales in your favor with the help of some positive body language.

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Remember: Body Language Is Only Part of the Picture

A better understanding of human body language can be useful in your own communication and in understanding others. It can also be a lot of fun to feel like you know what other people are thinking, when they're lying to you, and how comfortable they are in a given situation. That said, you're not a psychic. You can't read minds and the non-verbal cues you interpret are never going to tell you exactly what someone is feeling or thinking with spot-on accuracy. These techniques will help you find clues that can help you understand other people. Use them to communicate better and gain a better awareness of those around you. Don't pretend they're magic. All you're doing is paying closer attention to your natural, human intution.