Belly buttons are the amazing birthmarks that come in different shapes. It's a feature that characterizes humans. People pierce the belly button to wear attractive jewelry. You may know that each one of us has an absolutely different birthmark. Everyone has a belly button, but have you ever stopped to take a look at yours? Chances are probably not. We just accept them as that odd little gap in our stomach.
Our navels (or umbilicus, as they
are technically called) are remnants of what helped keep us alive and nourished
in the womb. The umbilical cord is a flexible tube that carries oxygen and
nutrients from the mother to the baby. Since we float in liquid in the womb,
the cord is the only way for us to get everything we need to grow and survive
as a baby. Our belly buttons serves as a reminder of this. Below are some interesting facts about your belly button that
you may not know:
1.
A COSMETIC
SURGEON CAN TURN AN OUTIE INTO AN INNIE: For those who
don't like their outie. Cosmetic surgery is an option. Umbilicoplasty is a surgery that alters the size or shape of the belly
button by removing excess skin or tightening abdominal skin. The surgical
technique dates back to the early 1900s when it was usually done as a
corrective measure in conjunction with tummy tuck surgeries, which often
displace the belly button.
2.
DOCTORS DON’T
CHOOSE A BABY'S BELLY BUTTON SHAPE: Whether your
belly button caves in or sticks out has nothing to do with how your doctor cut
or clamped your umbilical cord. It all comes down to the amount of space
between the skin and the abdominal wall, which determines how much skin (and
scar tissue) is left behind. About 90 percent of
people have innies, and the rest are outies. In some cases, an outie is the
result of an umbilical hernia,
which occurs when part of the intestine pokes through the umbilical opening in
the abdominal wall. It usually seals up naturally by the time a child reaches
the age of 2, but more persistent cases may require surgery.
3.
IF YOU POKE IT,
YOU MIGHT SUDDENLY GET THE URGE TO PEE: Speaking of
touching your belly button (and all the grossness that comes with it), you may
feel a tingly sensation when you stick your finger in it. That’s because you're
stimulating fibers lining the inside of your abdomen, which then send a message
to your spinal cord. Because your spinal cord at that level is also relaying
signals from your bladder and urethra, it feels almost the same. You interpret
this as discomfort in your bladder.
4.
BELLY BUTTONS
ARE SCARS: That little spot in the center of your belly marks the place
where your umbilical cord once connected you to your mom’s placenta. When that
cord is cut, a little, shriveled piece of it gets left behind. It eventually
falls off—usually within the first week of
a baby’s life, and what remains is a scar. Belly button” sounds a lot cuter
than belly scar.
5.
MOST MAMMALS
HAVE ONE: Dogs, lions, and armadillos have one, but their navels
aren’t always easy to spot. For one, most
mammalian mothers chew off the umbilical cord attached to their newborns,
leaving a flat scar that’s harder to detect than a human belly button. Gorillas
and chimpanzees are an interesting case for navel-gazers because they have what
some scientists call an “in-betweeny, a
navel that looks like a human’s but is neither an innie nor an outie.
There are a few notable exceptions to the mammal belly
button rule. Platypuses,
which lay eggs, have no umbilical cord and therefore no belly button. As for
marsupials like kangaroos and koalas, their umbilical cords generally fall off
while they’re still inside mom's pouch, so a scar never forms.
6.
THE FEAR OF
BELLY BUTTONS IS CALLED OMPHALOPHOBIA: Some people
feel anxious, afraid, or disgusted when their belly button is touched or when
someone else's bare midriff is on display. This is called omphalophobia,
which stems from the Greek word omphalo
for navel. This fear is believed to be linked to the navel's association with
umbilical cords and wombs, or perhaps the irrational childhood fear that a
belly button will come undone, letting one’s guts spill out.
7.
BELLY BUTTONS
ARE CELEBRATED IN SOME CULTURES: Think of Middle
Eastern belly dancing and midriff-baring Indian attire. In some places around
the world, the navel holds cultural and even spiritual significance. Some
Hindus believe that a lotus emerged from the god Vishnu’s navel,
and at the center of the flower was Brahma—the creator of the universe.
Likewise, in Japan, the belly button may represent the point where life begins.
In the Middle Jōmon period (2500-1500 BCE), Japanese artists
emphasized the appearance of navels on their human-like figurines.
Today, a belly button
festival is held annually in the town of Shibukawa in central Japan. “The belly
button is traditionally believed to be located in the middle of the body and
the most important part,” festival organizer Kazuo Yamada told Reuters.
“Our town, Shibukawa, is also called the belly button of Japan, and that is how
this festival began.”
8.
BELLY BUTTONS
ARE THE SOURCE OF A LONGSTANDING THEOLOGICAL DEBATE: Among
Christians, the debate over whether Adam and Eve had belly buttons is a little
like the age-old “chicken or egg” question. One popular argument holds that
Adam and Eve weren’t born naturally from a mother, and thus they wouldn’t have
had umbilical cords or belly buttons. Others disagree for various reasons and
insist that navels have been around since the dawn of time.
Both Raphael and Michelangelo depicted Adam and Eve with
navels in their artwork (including the Sistine Chapel's ceiling painting),
leading one 17th-century doctor and philosopher to decry these vulgar errors.
Other artists tried to avoid the issue altogether by concealing the couple’s
abdomens with foliage, forearms, or long hair.
A few centuries later, a U.S. House of Representatives
subcommittee refused to distribute a booklet called Races of Man to
World War II soldiers because it contained pictures of Adam and Eve with
navels. Members of the committee ruled that this image “would be misleading to
gullible American soldiers.”
9.
BELLY BUTTONS
CAN LEAK URINE: In a similar vein, a rare abnormality can cause urine to
leak out of the belly button. In the early stages of pregnancy, a tube called
the urachus
connects a fetus’s bladder and belly button and allows urine to drain. It
usually atrophies and turns into a scar on the bladder at birth or soon after,
but not always. Some people may never know they still have all or part of their
urachus attached because it only becomes a problem if the tube doesn’t close
up. In those cases, urine can travel up through the urachus and leak out
of the navel. Surgery is generally needed to fix this issue.
10.
BELLY BUTTONS
CONTAIN THOUSANDS OF KINDS OF BACTERIA: Beyond lint, a
lot of dead skin, discarded fat molecules, and thousands of bacteria also live
in your navel. There are over 2368 types of bacteria in the navel. The bacteria
help to protect you against harmful pathogens. Without these microbes the
immune systems won’t function properly. This collection of microbes must have a
certain composition—must form a certain microbial ecosystem—in order for our
immune system to function properly.
11.
BELLY BUTTONS
GROW SPECIAL LINT-CATCHING HAIRS: Have you ever
wondered why bits of lint keep collecting in your belly button despite your
best efforts to keep it clean? Blame it on a special type of hair that grows in navels. These hairs have tiny barbs that
protrude and rub against your clothing, causing small fibers to scrape off. The
hairs are arranged in concentric circles, which act as a funnel and suck fluff
into your navel. Those who shave
their stomachs or don't grow a lot of body hair to
begin with likely don't have many problems with lint.
12.
BELLY BUTTONS
USED TO BE BANNED ON TV: In Western culture, belly buttons
have been regarded as a feminine sexual center since ancient times. They were
deemed too lewd to show on television in 1951. Barbara Eden, who played Jeannie
in I Dream of Jeannie, said network executives at NBC held meetings over
whether to let her flash her navel during the show’s run in the ‘60s.
Although Eden’s genie
get-up never ended up revealing her belly button, other shows started to push
the envelope around the same time. The belly-button ban technically remained in
effect until 1983, but it wasn’t exactly enforced. Yvette Mimieux of Dr.
Kildare became the first actress to bare her navel on television in 1964,
and others followed suit soon after.
“I don't think of God as an
old white man with no belly button, nor even an old black woman with no belly
button. But I agree that God is something eternal. Something cannot come out of
nothing. I believe God is Everything. And I believe in infinity.” (Pete Seeger) [i]
[i] Sources used:
·
“12 Facts about Belly Buttons” BY Emily Petsko
·
“22 Facts You Didn't Know About Belly
Buttons” by Eve
·
“Belly Buttons: 8 Weird Things Most People Don’t
Know About Their Navel” by Kate Taylor
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