Heart of the Matter: Lesser Known Facts about your Heart

A century ago heart disease was very rare. Unfortunately, cardiovascular diseases – caused due to either genetic traits or sedentary lifestyle – have taken a toll on human lives.  Let us take a look at some lesser known facts about your heart.

For starters you should know that your heart is constantly at work, and it is in fact pumping blood which is filled with essential oxygen and nutrients to your body’s organs for an entire day without any stop. It pumps about 2000 gallons of blood every day. The workings of the heart and all its intricate details are very interesting for all to know. Do you know your heart well?

The Heart is on the Centre, not on the Left

Despite of what you have always been told, the truth is that your heart is located in the middle of the chest, it is snuggled in between your lungs. But there are people who are born with what we call dextrocardia, which is a condition wherein the heart moves towards the right side of your chest. But according to experts people with this condition can live normal lives without any disability.

Your Heart Beats 70 Times in a Minute

This is just a close, approximate figure. According to experts the healthy adult heart should beat anywhere between 60 to 100 times a minute when it is at rest. If you calculate then it comes out to be around 100, 000 beats a day and 2.5 million beats in an average lifetime.  Newborns have the fastest heart beats that can range anywhere between 70 to 190 beats per minute.

Have a Big Heart? That’s a Problem!

Now even though your friends applaud you for having the proverbial big heart, the facts say otherwise. An enlarged heart in the literal sense is a symptom of a heart disease. Adults should have hearts that is the size of a fist, and this is normal. Enlarged heart which is termed as cardiomegaly can occur for a number of reasons. While some of these reasons could be temporary, some are permanently tied to heart condition.

Have a Cold Heart? Well, Congrats!

There is a form of treatment called therapeutic hypothermia which is used to treat cardiac arrest. In this doctors cool a patient’s body to 91 degrees F, which is about 7 degrees below the average. This is done in order to stop brain damage and damage to other organs that begin when the heart stops and then restarts.

Heart Attacks on a Monday

Mondays are bad for you heart and that is true in every sense, so the term Monday Blues is very well right. Research suggests that more heart attacks occur on Mondays than any other days of the week, a 2005 study found that the incidence of heart attack was 20 percent higher in men and about 15 percent higher in women on Mondays.

A Woman’s Heart Beats Faster

A female heart pumps six beats faster per minute than compared to a man’s heart, and that is a fact! This can be because of the gender difference in the heart size, yes, a male heart is bigger and so it can pump more blood in a single beat.

Also here is a tip for you, to protect your heart from any malfunction you must know what symptoms indicate a future occurrence of heart disease and go for regular health checkups;  sooner, the better.

Image Courtesy: gettyimages.in

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