The most unfortunate shortcomings of the human body that make our life harder

The food we swallow and the air we breathe travel down the same part of our throat until their reach the point where it splits into the esophagus and the trachea. Food and liquids go to the esophagus, and air goes to trachea (windpipe). When swallowing occurs, the trachea is covered by a flap called the epiglottis.

Unfortunately, epiglottis doesn't always work well, and sometimes food can get stuck in the upper airway, which causes choking. It usually happens when the food is not properly chewed or when we talk or laugh while eating. Complete blockage of the airway may lead to death.

It would be better if our trachea and esophagus were not connected. Anyway, we would lose our ability to speak this way.

The human eye is constructed in such a way that the photoreceptors are located at the back of it. This means that the light has to pass through layers of neurons and capillaries before it reaches the light-detecting rod and cone cells. Scientists call this structure "inverted".

The tissue layers scatter some light, which leads to loss of light and image blur. This makes our vision less detailed than it might be. Such a structure can also encourage the retina to detach from its supporting tissue, which is one of the main causes of blindness.

On the one hand, it would be better if our retina were non-inverted. On the other hand, due to its inverted structure, our color vision is enhanced during the day and suffers very little at night.

Basically, allergy is the body attacking itself. Most substances that cause allergy are harmless. The saddest part is that some allergic reactions can be fatal!

The body overreacts towards certain agents because the immune system doesn't have the necessary antibodies to interact with an alien substance. It would be better if the human body were initially equipped with all the necessary antibodies.

It's hard to give up candy and fast food, and there's a reason for that. We overdo sugar because it's a basic form of energy, and millions years ago it was necessary for our ancestors' survival. Today sugar in available in large amounts, and our organism still tries to store fat. That's why eating junk food is so satisfying.

It would be better if our bodies changed and stopped craving sugar. Anyway, the only thing we can do now is to realize that our bodies don't need large amounts of sugar and fats and start eating responsibly.

After our ancestors started walking upright, the human brain got much bigger. The shape of out skull changed, and the jaws became narrower. That's why wisdom teeth, which typically start growing during the late teenage years or early twenties, often have no room to erupt through the gums. It can be really painful when they become impacted.

A genetic mutation which suppresses the formation of third molars arose thousands of years ago, and some modern humans already don't have them. The mutation is still spreading, which means that wisdom teeth can become obsolete one day.

Sometimes blood thickens and form clots, which cause deep vein thrombosis. Most often clots originate in the legs. If the clump breaks off from the vein, such a complication as pulmonary embolism may occur, which is way more serious. It is caused by the blockage of an artery in the lungs by the clot which entered the bloodstream and reached the lungs. Pulmonary embolism damages many organs and may result in a sudden death.

Too narrow veins and arteries which may be blocked by clots are a serious drawback of our body.

Childbirth is very painful due to the structure of human pelvis. As we walk on two legs, our pelvis is angled, and human birth canal is tilted. When a baby comes out, it has to take the sharp curve of the pelvis, which makes childbirth a long and painful process. Most animals, even chimpanzees, don't have such problems and feel less pain while giving birth to their babies. Moreover, our brains are quite large even at birth, which also makes the process more complicated.

It would be easier to give birth to children if female pelvises were a little bit wider.