10 Interesting Facts About Your Heart
-The heart is a unique organ with components of both muscle and nervous tissue. As part of the cardiovascular system, its job is to pump blood to the body's cells and tissues. Did you know that your heart can keep beating even when it is not in your body?
Discover 10 fascinating facts about your heart.
Your Heart Beats About 100,000 Times a Year
In young adults, the heart beats between 70 (resting) and 200 (heavy exercise) beats per minute. In a year, the heart beats about 100,000 times. In 70 years, your heart will beat more than 2.5 billion times.
Your Heart Pumps About 1.3 Gallons of Blood Per Minute
At rest, the heart can pump about 1.3 gallons (5 liters) of blood per minute. Blood travels through the entire system of blood vessels in just 20 seconds. In a day, the heart pumps about 2,000 gallons of blood through thousands of miles of blood vessels.
Your Heart Begins Beating Between 3 to 4 Weeks After Conception
The human heart starts beating a few weeks after fertilization. At 4 weeks, the heart beats 105 to 120 times per minute.
Couples' Hearts Beat as One
A study at the University of California at Davis showed that couples breathe at the same rate and their heartbeats are synchronized. In the study, couples were hooked up to heart rate and respiration monitors as they went through various exercises without touching or talking to each other. Couples' heart and breathing rates tended to be synchronized, suggesting that couples in romantic relationships are connected on a physiological level.
Your Heart May Still Beat Separately from Your Body
Unlike other muscles, heart contractions are not regulated by the brain. Electrical impulses produced by the heart nodes cause your heart to beat. As long as it has enough energy and oxygen, your heart will keep beating even outside your body.
The human heart can keep beating for up to a minute after being removed from the body. However, the heart of an individual who is addicted to a drug such as cocaine can beat outside the body for much longer. Cocaine causes the heart to work harder because it reduces blood flow to the coronary arteries that supply blood to the heart muscle. This drug increases heart rate, heart size and can cause heart muscle cells to beat irregularly. As shown in a video produced by the American Medical Center MEDspiration, a 15-year cocaine addict's heart beat outside his body for 25 minutes.
Heart Sounds Are Produced by Heart Valves
The heart beats as a result of cardiac conduction, the generation of electrical impulses that cause the heart to contract. As the atria and ventricles contract, the closing of the heart valves produces the "lub-dupp" sounds.
A heart murmur is an abnormal sound caused by turbulent blood flow in the heart. The most common type of heart murmur is caused by problems with the mitral valve, which is located between the left atrium and the left ventricle. The abnormal sound is caused by blood flowing back into the left atrium. Normally working valves prevent blood from flowing backwards.
Blood Type Linked to Heart Disease
Researchers have discovered that your blood type may put you at a higher risk of developing heart disease. According to a study published in the journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology, those with blood type AB have the highest risk of developing heart disease. Those with blood type B have the next highest risk, followed by blood type A. The reasons for the link between blood type and heart disease are not fully understood, but blood type AB has been linked to inflammation and blood type A to high levels of a particular type of cholesterol.
Approximately 20% of Cardiac Output Goes to the Kidneys and 15% to the Brain
About 20% of the blood flow goes to the kidneys. The kidneys filter toxins from the blood and these are excreted in the urine. They filter about 200 liters of blood a day. A constant flow of blood to the brain is essential for survival. If the blood supply is cut off, brain cells can die within a few minutes. The heart receives about 5% of its cardiac output through the coronary arteries.
Low Cardiac Index Linked to Brain Aging
The amount of blood pumped by the heart is linked to brain aging. People with a low cardiac index have a smaller brain volume than those with a high cardiac index. The cardiac index is a measure of the amount of blood pumped by the heart relative to a person's body size. As we age, the size of our brain normally shrinks. According to a Boston University study, those with a low cardiac index have almost two years more brain aging than those with a high cardiac index.
Slow Blood Flow May Cause Heart Disease
Researchers from the University of Washington have uncovered more clues about how heart arteries can become clogged over time. By studying blood vessel walls, they discovered that blood cells move closer together in areas where blood flow is fast. This sticking together of cells reduces the loss of fluid from blood vessels. In areas where blood flow is slow, there tends to be more leakage from the arteries, the researchers noted. This leads to a buildup of cholesterol in those areas, which clogs the arteries.
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