We usually share ways to keep you heart healthy. We thought you may enjoy some fun facts about the heart.

  1. Heart disease is the number 1 cause of death in the United States.
  2. The average heart is the size of a fist in an adult.
  3. Your heart can weigh between 7 and 15 ounces.
  4. A man’s heart, on average, is 2 ounces heavier than a woman’s heart.
  5. Your heart will beat about 115,000 times each day.
  6. A woman’s heart beats slightly faster than a man’s heart. Men at approximately 70 and women around 78. Because women’s hearts are smaller in size and need to beat more to pump the same amount of blood.
  7. Average adult should have a resting rate between 60 & 100 beats per minute.
  8. Newborn babies have the fastest heart beats at 70-190 beats per minute.
  9. Athletes who regularly train will have a slow resting heart rate of around 40-60 beats per minute.
  10. One cardiac cycle, the contracting and relaxing of your heart muscle known as a beat takes less than a second (.8 second).
  11. A normal heart pumps approximately 4 tablespoons of blood with each beat.
  12. Your heart pumps about 2,000 gallons of blood every day.
  13. The blood entering the heart if purplish-blue, this blood does not have oxygen.
  14. Blood exiting the heart is red. It contains a full supply of oxygen.
  15. There are 60,000 miles of blood vessels in your body.
  16. Your aorta is as large as a garden hose.
  17. Arteries are only about 4 millimeters in diameter.
  18. Some capillaries are 10X smaller than a human hair.
  19. Your heart is located in the middle of your chest. It is behind your breastbone but tilted to the left.
  20. The heart works twice as hard as the leg muscles of a sprinter.
  21. The beating sound of your heart is caused by the valves of the heart opening and closing.
  22. A normal heart valve is about the size of a half dollar.
  23. Your heart is a coordinated machine. The right-side pumps blood into your lungs, while the left side pumps it back into your body.
  24. Every cell in your body gets blood from your heart, except for your corneas.
  25. An electrical system controls the rhythm of your heart. It is called the cardiac conduction system.
  26. The heart can continue beating even when it is disconnected from the body as long as it has a supply of oxygen.
  27. The first open-heart surgery occurred in 1893. It was performed by Daniel Hale Williams, who was one of the few Black cardiologists in the United States at the time.
  28. The first heart pacemakers plugged in a wall socket.
  29. The first implantable pacemaker was used in 1958. Arne Larsson, who received the pacemaker, lived longer than the surgeon who implanted it. Larsson died at 86 of a disease that was unrelated to his heart.
  30. Christian Barnard (1922-2001) performed the first transplant of a human heart. The recipient lived only 18 days.
  31. The youngest person to receive heart surgery was only a minute old. She had a heart defect that many babies do not survive. Her surgery was successful, but she will eventually need a heart transplant.
  32. Most heart attacks happen on a Monday.
  33. Christmas day is the most common day of the year for heart attacks to happen.
  34. Men and women have different heart attack symptoms.
  35. The earliest known case of heart disease was identified in the remains of a 3,500-year-old Egyptian mummy.
  36. The stethoscope was invented by Rene Laennec (1781-1826), a French physician who felt it was inappropriate to place his ear on a female patient’s chest.
  37. Physiologist Willem Einthoven (1860-1927) invent the electrocardiograph in 1903.
  38. The iconic heart shape as a symbol of love is traditionally thought to come from the silphium plant, which was used as an ancient form of birth control.
  39. Heart cells stop dividing, which means heart cancer is extremely rare.
  40. Laughing is good for your heart. It reduces stress and gives a boost to your immune system.
  41. Regular exercise is one of the single most important key to heart health.
  42. Sitting is an independent risk factor for heart disease. Even if you regularly exercise you should decrease your sitting time.
  43. It is possible to have a broken heart. It is called broken heart syndrome and can have similar symptoms as a heart attack. The difference is that a heart attack is from heart disease and broken heart syndrome is caused by a rush of stress hormones from an emotional or physical stress event.
  44. Death from a broken heart, or broken heart syndrome, is possible but extremely rare.
  45. The iconic heart shape as a symbol of love is traditionally thought
  46. Horses can mirror a human’s heart rate. Studies show that a horse can mimic the heart rate of the person touching them.
  47. The fairy fly, which is a type of wasp, has the smallest heart of any living creature.
  48. The American pygmy shrew is the smallest mammal, but it has the fastest heartbeat at 1,200 beats per minute.
  49. The Blue Whale has the largest heart of any mammal. It is 5 feet long and weighs 400 pounds.
  50. The giraffe has a lopsided heart, with their left ventricle being thicker than the right. This is because the left side has to get blood up the giraffe’s long neck to reach their brain.

Your heart affects every part of your body. That also means that diet, lifestyle, and your emotional well-being can affect your heart. Emotional and physical health are both important for maintaining a healthy heart.

Dr. Bobish

Dr. Bobish and her team focus on preventative care and are here to support you. Alpine Cardiology provides patients with education as well as compassionate care and treatment. We are committed to keeping you healthy and heart smart! Request an appointment at 989-448-7002

Alpine Cardiology Heart FActs