Did you know that the heart is the most vital organ of one's body? It's also only the size of your fist and usually weighs just under 1.1 pounds. When a heart contracts it is pumping blood to the lungs, the trunk and the lower extremities. If a person is on a regular schedule and performs exercise on a specific basis along with any other types of muscle your heart may grow larger than what it is. The heart is made of two pumps. Both of these come along with two chambers that are seperated by valves. The right atrium has carbon-dioxide-laden blood that travels through the veins from all parts of your body getting to the right half of the heart muscle. From this first process we go along to the right atrium as to where the heart is pumping blood to the second chamber. This is what we call the right ventricle. This process then leads us to getting the blood to our lungs. Once this process is done the blood is then released and is stored as carbon dioxide and then absorbs to atmospheric oxygen. There are many factors that affect the heart rate such as body positions, fitness, gender, age, mood, stimulants and depressants. A person is able to measure their heart rate by either feeling their pulse at certain checkpoints on one's body or even electronically by a heart rate monitor. A normal heart rate for an adult that is over 18 is usually around 60-100 times per minute, as for an infant a normal rate can be as high as 160 beats per minute. And for children 120 beats is a normal rate.
Fun Facts:
- Your heart beats about 100,000 times in one day
- The heart pumps blood to almost all of the body's 75 trillion cells. Only the corneas does not recieve blood supply.
- The heart does the most phyical work of any muscle during a life time.