Walkin' the Ion

Electrocharging (10,000 steps)

Heart's electromagnetic field

Walking and Pumping

10,000 steps per day are equivalent to 8 kilometres walk

1965 万歩計/歩数計（ほすうけい）/計歩器

➥ 万 ㄨㄢˋ a simplified and variant form of 萬 ― the original form of 蠆 (chài, “scorpion”) ― that initially refers to a type of dancer-musicians, usage attested in the oracle inscriptions and supported by ancient literature, e.g. 詩經 Shījīng, which mentions a type of dance called 萬舞 “religious dance; sorcery”.

Everything humans do is controlled and enabled by electrical signals running through their bodies in which electrons aren't flowing along a wire. Instead, an electrical charge is jumping at a rate of 120m/sec, from one cell to the next, until it reaches its destination.

Negativity is the natural resting state of the cells. It is related to a slight imbalance between the charged atoms located inside and outside the cells.

Those atoms are known as離子, the ions — the imbalance of which sets the stage for the human electrical capacity ― and the majority of the ions in question are either sodium or potassium atoms. Both potassium and sodium ions carry a positive charge. When a cell is not transmitting electrical signals ― a state of being named the cell’s resting membrane potential or RMP ― the concentration of sodium ions outside the cell is higher than inside it. On the other side, there are more potassium ions inside the cell than outside of it. The space surrounding the cell has a charge that is relatively more positive than the space within it. Thus the charge inside that cell is negative, comparatively, and the difference in total charge inside and outside of the cell is called the membrane potential.

The charge difference on each side of the cell’s membrane establishes an electrochemical gradient ― between what is inside the cell and the area immediately outside it.

There are channels located in the membrane of each cell that grants passage to specific kinds of ions ― in most cells, the potassium channels outnumber the sodium ones ― and once a cell’s membrane potential changes — once the interior total charge fluctuates in relation to the exterior total charge — some of the relevant ion channels which are embedded in the membrane can be activated.

Many of these channels only open up and allow the transfer of ions when the cell’s membrane potential has shifted by just the right amount. The formal name for those pathways is voltage-gated ion channels.

Each voltage-gated ion channel will only let a particular kind of ion enter or exit the cell. The neurons ― specialized cells in the nervous system, responsible for transmitting information across the body ―  contain both sodium voltage-gated ion channels and potassium voltage-gated ion channels, in their membranes.

➥ An action potential is a rapid sequence of changes in the voltage across a membrane, a shockwave that comes in two phases: depolarization, followed by repolarization. During the first phase, a sodium influx causes the internal voltage to rise. In phase two, the neuron enters its “repolarization” phase with the help of sodium-potassium pumps that eject sodium ions and pull in potassium ones, and let the cellular membrane reinstates RMP by — once again — making the inside of our neuron more negatively charged than the outside.

Depolarization and repolarization are the one-two punch behind action potentials. These electrical shockwaves can set off a chain reaction among the neurons, giving the brain a signal to interpret and act upon.

➥ Upon suffering an electric shock, the normal operation of the system is interrupted, like with a power surge and a shock of the lightning magnitude can cause the body to stop: the electrical process does not work anymore — it is fried.

➥ The body’s total voltage has an accurate value of more than 3.5 trillion volts!

This calculation is based on the fact that the average “membrane potential” for a cell is 70 millivolts or .07 volts (this is the electrical charge difference between the inside of the cell, separated by the cell membrane, from the charge just outside the cell's membrane). As there are 50 trillion cells x .07volts = 3.5 trillion volts.

It is estimated that the average person burns around 500 calories for every 10,000 steps, which represents roughly the level of calorie deficit needed to create each day to lose one pound of fat per week.

Walking contributes to the non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT), which is the energy expended for everything done that isn’t sleeping, eating or exercising. And completing 10,000 steps a day is great for cardiovascular health—minimizing the risk of heart problems and stroke—and also helps reduce blood pressure, as well as improve mental health.

GGG