October 12, 2009

National Geographic: Health

The latest issue of National Geographic dedicated a section to the human limits...

We can last 45 days of starvation. 7 days of dehydration. Even 40% blood loss before it becomes fatal. The human body can withstand a lot more than we may give it credit for....


"A 64-year-old Duluth woman fell on the ice last December. Arthritis kept her from getting up. She lay in the snow for hours. Her temperature dipped to 70 degree F. Her heart stopped. She should have been a goner. But doctors revived her; today she is fine. Medical science is always learning more about how much a body can take. Yet as Duke University physician Claude Piantadosi notes, At some point its impossible to rescue yourself."

-Shelley Sperry