In Just 1 Minute…

Our bodies are capable of completing incredible, and sometimes seemingly impossible, feats. When we admire the distance we can push our bodies or the natural damage they can recover from, we are left in awe and amazement. Very little do we stop and consider just how much our bodies do for us each and every day. In fact, in just 1 single minute, your body is doing some incredible things.

1.) Using Energy

In 1 minute of rest, your body will consume an average of 2 calories just to maintain your most basic bodily functions, such as breathing or blinking. When we move or exercize, our body is capable of converting energy from the calories it stores or processes.

2.) Converting Oxygen

Breathing comes as a second nature – something most people don’t even acknowledge all day. In fact, most people don’t stop to consider their breath until they find themselves gasping for air after a long spring on the treadmill or romp around the block. Every minute, your body will process about 250ml of oxygen from the air your breathe, and produce almost 200ml of carbon dioxide.

3.) Breathing

Speaking of breathing, you will breathe around 12 times each minute that you spend reading this. In those 12 inhales and exhales, you will move 6 liters of air between your lungs and the air around you.

4.) Pumping Blood

While everyone has a different resting heart rate that varies on many factors, your heart will typically beat 70 times a minute when your body is at rest. This heart beat will pump 5 liters of blood through your lungs and an additional 5 liters of blood to the rest of our body.

5.) Filtering the Unwanted

1 liter of that blood that is pumped throughout your body in one minute will be processed through your kidneys. Your kidneys will work to filter out most of the unwanted material and bodily waste in your bloodstream. In doing so, the will then produce an average of 1ml of urine per minute, containing the filtered out materials.

We can stop and admire the weights we push at the gym, the amount of exhaustion we endure without coffee (or sometimes with) and the ways our body can recover from what seems like impossible damage. Every minute, your body is working hard, and all of these smaller tasks that it completes are in themselves, pretty remarkable.