Arteries, Lungs and 4 Other Body Parts You Didn’t Know You Could Heal Yourself

Unfortunately, the human body can’t regenerate. Unlike some lizards, if we lose our fingers, they won’t grow back.

But that doesn’t mean the body doesn’t have the ability to repair itself in slightly less amazing ways. Many of our body parts, such as our lungs, arteries, bones, and brain, have amazing healing powers. Here’s a list of what they can do, and how you can help.

5 Ways to Keep Your Body Healthy

1. Clean Your Lungs

On a daily basis we inhale all sorts of things that can clog up our airways, from smoke to smog to air fresheners and other pollutants.

What They Can Do

Luckily, our lungs, just like our ovens, come with a self-cleaning mechanism. The cilia (the things that look like little hairs) have an amazing ability to gradually move gunk from the alveoli to the trachea. Norman Edelman, an advisor for the American Lung Association, calls it a “mucus escalator.”

How You Can Help

The best way to help your lungs clean themselves out is by exercising regularly. All the heavy breathing helps to loosen everything up and gets the escalator moving.

Another good option is to eat plenty of carrots, sweet potatoes, mangoes, and other good sources of vitamin A.

2. Rebuild Your Bones

Somehow or another we find ways to break our bones. We trip on steps, slip on ice, and do stupid things. It’s a part of life.

What They Can Do

There are cells that live within our bones that are capable of building new bones. But when a bone breaks, these osteocytes are released from their structure.

How You Can Help

Get more vitamin K by eating leafy greens. It helps to cement those little cells back in place as they rebuild the bone around them. Broccoli, spinach, avocados, and tomatoes are all good sources.

You should also exercise as soon as you feel ready. Generally after just 6 weeks most bones are ready for light stress, which stimulates the osteocytes to rebuild faster.

3. Reboot Your Gut

Because of a terrible diet, many Americans regularly deal with intestinal pain.

What It Can Do

Thankfully, the cells on the lining of your gut have a very fast turnover rate. One is typically only there for a couple days before a new cell takes it place.

How You Can Help

Eating more fiber, especially from whole-grains, is the best way to speed up this process. Getting plenty of bran and fruits and vegetables is also recommended.

4. Build Your Brain

As we grow older, we struggle to keep our memory sharp and brain functioning at optimal levels.

What It Can Do

Though scientists believed for a long time that brain cells slowly died off as we got older, more recent research suggests that your brain is more like your skin, and attempts to heal itself after an injury.

How You Can Help

Oddly enough the best thing you can do is exercise regularly. It has been shown to help form new neurons in the olfactory bulb and the hypothalamus, which plays a key role in learning and forming new memories.

5. Enlarge Your Arteries

Over the years fat and cholesterol hardens along the walls of your arteries making blood flow more difficult. This can increase your chances of suffering a heart attack or stroke.

What They Can Do

Fortunately, your body does have the ability to reverse this trend by widening existing arteries and even growing new ones through a process called angiogenesis.

How You Can Help

Keep your cholesterol low by avoiding trans fats and generally eating a healthy diet of whole grains with plenty of fruits and vegetables. And you should try to exercise regularly, even 10 minutes on a treadmill has been to show greatly increase the body’s ability to enlarge arteries.