Know Your Heart - 15 Interesting Facts

Heart is a muscular organ that pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system within the body. Blood is the carrier of nutrients and oxygen and also helps in removing metabolic waste. The human heart is located below the lungs and in the middle compartment of the chest. Heart is a major organ in the human body that works continuously till it fails.

This heat performs very important functions in the human body and here on World Heart Day we provide some Quick Facts on human heart.

• Regular exercises, stress management, laughing and being happy, proper diet and body weight management helps to keep heart healthy. People with diabetes, hypertension and other diseases needs to take particularly advised care.
• The heart is almost the size of fist of an adult
• Heart weighs between 198 to 284 gms
• The heat beats around 1,00,000 times each day
• On an average heart pumps around 4 table-spoons of blood with each beat
• Around 2000 gallons of blood is pumped by the heart daily
• There is an electrical system that controls the rhythm of the heart and it is known as cardiac conduction system
• During sneezing the heart does not stop (imp: never stop a sneeze forcefully or at will)
• Even when the heart is not connected with the body, it can continue to beat
• Cardiologist Daniel Hale Williams in 1983 performed the first open heart surgery as per modern history
• In 1958 the first Pacemaker implant was done of Arne Larson and Larson lived upto 86 years of age and died due to condition that is not related to heart diseases. Larson also lived longer the surgeon who did the implant.
• The youngest person to receive a heart surgery was a minute old and she survived
• Heart of women beats faster than men
• There is something called the Broken Heart Syndrome with symptoms similar to a heart attack. This syndrome is mostly caused by intense grief or, excess stress or prolonged stress. Broken heart syndrome needs treatment and death from this syndrome is rare
• Blood vessels if extended it can extend upto 60,000 miles