There are few parts of the human body more intricate and complex than the eye.
Vision is so precious. Communication, comprehension, transportation, and socialization — to name a few — all rely heavily on our ability to gather and interpret visual data. In fact, about 80% of all information received by the brain comes from the eyes, meaning the four other senses only account for 20% of the pie.
In other words, the eyes are an important part of us. But how well do you really know those nerve spheres staring back at you in the mirror?
To test your optical knowledge, here are 5 quick fun facts about the human eye.
1. We are born color blind. It may sound strange, but when we are born we are unable to perceive color at first. Vision takes time to develop, and it’s usually a few weeks of black, white, and grays before color begins seeping into what a baby sees. It isn’t until age seven that our eyes mature completely. Also, men are more likely to be born color blind and stay that way than women, and an estimated 8% of all males are color blind.
2. We blink about 15,000 per day. Since blinking is an involuntary action, like breathing, we don’t think about how much we’re doing it throughout the day. Each blink last about 1/10th of a second and we blink about 12 times every minute. That adds up to spending 70 minutes of our lives blinking!
3. We don’t actually see with our eyes. While our eyes are responsible for receiving the visual information, it is actually the brain which processes the data and interprets it into a comprehendible image. A person with eyes but no brain would be as blind as not having any eyes at all.
4. Eye color is genetic. That circle of color surrounding your pupil is called the iris and it is family genetics that determine its tint. Traits that decide a person’s eye color can be passed on from immediate family or relatives removed by multiple generations. Some people even have two differently colored eyes (called heterochromia).
5. 80% of vision problems around the world are preventable and even curable. The eye is the fastest healing organ in the body, and is composed of over a million components. With so much complexity packed into such a compact space, there are bound to be vision problems. There are about 39 million people worldwide who are blind and six times that number — 234 million—with some kind of vision impairment.
Regrettably, many of these vision problems could have been prevented or cured with the help of an eye doctor.
Your eyes are so incredibly beautiful and complex, which is why it is important to have regular eye exams yearly. Visit your local eye doctor to take care of all of your eye-related needs.