What is the average age in the U.S. today?
How much time do you spend daydreaming in an average day?
Do you ever wonder how many pounds of food does a person in the U.S. eat in an average lifetime?
Or how many hours does the average teenager spend watching television?
Ever ponder this question: what was the average lifespan of a caveman? Would you believe that a caveman averaged only 19 years?
Throw a bunch of numbers together and divide by how many there are and you have an average. But some people find most averages dull and couldn’t be bothered reading a column full of them.
Back in the early 1980s, I got an idea to write a column that would provide the answers to these humorous and occasionally provocative questions?
Apparently, one of the young editors wasn’t enamored with the idea. The column never ran in the paper.
I gave up on the idea, and now 20 years later, I got the same notion.
So, let’s give it a try.
Did you know that the number of Americans who report that someone in their family has suffered from mental health problems severe enough to affect their physical health is one out of every three?
What about the number of Americans with severe back problems? Try one out of every four.
In fact, Americans spend an average of $5 billion annually diagnosing and treating back problems.
On average, a person would have to eat about 11 pounds of potatoes to gain a single pound of body weight.
The average person grows a new eyelash every three months.
On average, hair grows faster in the morning than at any other time of day.
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The average left-handed person tends to be more creative and receptive to new ideas than the right-handers, a study shows.
People dream an average of five times a night, and the dreams keep getting longer. The first dream is about 10 minutes long and the last is about 45.
On the average, women dream more than men and children dream more than adults; more people dream in black-and-white than in color.
An average of 2 million people dies annually in the U.S.
On the average, one out of every 50 Americans is manic-depressive.
The average human male produces 138,000 sperm cells in 60 seconds.
The human head sheds an average of 68 hairs during a 24-hour period.
On the average, women have a slightly higher IQ than do men.
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The average length of time it takes a worker’s body to adjust to a new work shift is 21 days.
On the average, more than half of the people bitten by poisonous snakes in the U.S. are never treated and still survive.
Weighing in at 11 ounces, the average heart pumps four liters per minute.
The average number of people dying from choking on food each year is greater than the average number of people killed by guns, airplane accidents, snakebites, or electrical shocks.
The human tongue contains an average of 9,000 taste buds.
On average, one brow wrinkle is the result of 200,000 frowns.
On average, one out of every five American men and one out of every four American women are at least 10 percent overweight.
The average heart beats 100,000 times every 24 hours.
The average number of teenagers suffering from acne is 9 out of every 10.
Ancient Egyptians lived an average of 29 years.
And the average person flexes his or her finger joints 25 million times during a lifetime.
Top of the morning!