When we talk about health, we talk about how our bodies work. 

One normal part of life is: PEOPLE LEAK !!! 

One of my sons has a baby girl, and he can’t believe all the liquids and solids and air that a baby releases. 

Babies leak. What goes in, must come out. 

They’re not potty trained. 

They spit up when they are fed too much, or when their tummies are upset, 

and they burp a lot. 

They drool when they eat. They drool when they are cutting teeth. 

They pee. 

They poop... funny-colored, runny stuff sometimes.

But not only babies leak. A lot of childhood embarrassment and adult frustration, is because humans of all ages leak. 

Everything that goes in must come out, planned or unplanned, with or without warning.

Have you ever stayed on the playground too long when you needed the restroom? Your body will always win. 

You need to understand your body’s expectations of you. 

What kind of stuff do we leak? 

Air. When we breathe in, we are made to also breathe out. This is called aspiration, but it’s usually not very messy. 

We also burb and pass gas.

Liquids. We need water. Part of the water we drink flushes old stuff out of our bodies, so we expel yellow-ish urine. 

And many people overhydrate, drinking more liquids than they need. So, more potty-time. 

As we grow up, we may also sweat at inconvenient times. 

We are designed to leak. 

Solids. Food gives us the raw material we need to sustain our bodies, but not all of the stuff we eat is useable, 

so that part of the food, and used-up body cells are leaked-out through pooping. 

I have read that in the Civil War, common courtesy was to not shoot at opposing soldiers when they were  pooping.

People have other kind of leaks too, all of them natural. Some of the things we consume are converted into other liquids. 

So does blood that spills out when we are cut. 

When babies are made, the dad leaks his dad-seeds and they join a  mom-seed, and voila! 

And the baby that comes out of the mom’s body is a person in its own right. 

I used to work on hospital cleaning crew and have cleaned childbirth delivery rooms, so I know how much birthing-mothers leak. 

And mammal-mothers (including human moms) give milk from their mammary glands. 

Not all the milk that moms make, goes into the babies. Some of it leaks out here and there. 

People that are of the age to make babies, they leak baby seeds regularly, women in their way, and men in their way. 

This happens as long as they are able to make babies. 

And the body parts that are used in making babies, live in the same neighborhood as our potty-parts. 

And for a woman, childbirth cause a woman to have less potty-control during her pregnancy and after having a baby. 

There are exercises that can help with this. They are called 'Kegel exercises'. 

https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/womens-health/in-depth/kegel-exercises/art-20045283 

Older people leak too. The human body has at least 60 different types of ’sphincter muscles', circular muscles, shaped like a ring, able to contract or relax. These sphincter muscles control the flow of food and liquids through our bodies. 

Our urination and defecation systems each have sphincter muscles. 

Aging, injuries, genetic issues, surgeries and some medicines can make sphincter muscles less obedient to our will. 

This is called ‘incontinence’. Adult diapers can make these folks socially comfortable. 

So, who probably has their leaks under the best control? Probably an eight year old girl, who properly uses a hanky.

 

Besides injured people in Emergency Rooms, who leaks the most? 

Probably a married, new mother, who breastfeeds, is suffering incontinency problems from childbirth, and has resumed making baby-seeds. 

One last thing: There is another way humans leak. When we track in mud and stuff that we should have scraped off our shoes before we came in the house, eh?  Are you careful not to leak on your kitchen floor?

Eric J. Rose 

middlegrademysteries.com 

photo: dailymail.co.uk