Heart Facts

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Communication

Heart Rate Variability (HRV) is the beat-to-beat changes of the heart beat which provides a critical link between emotional states and the rhythms of the the heart. As a result of this communication, heart rhythms, the nervous system, the immune system and the hormonal system respond differently under different emotional conditions.
Neuroscientists have discovered that the heart has its own independent nervous system which is referred to as "the brain in the heart".
The heart's intrinsic brain and nervous system relay information back to the brain in the cranium, which creates a two-way communication system between the heart and the brain.
Researchers now know that when the brain sends "orders" to the heart via the nervous system, the heart doesn't always obey.
The electromagnetic signal of the heart (ECG) has about 50 times more amplitude than your brain (EEG)
The signals from your heart can be measured up to 2.4 metres away, whereas your brain signals can only be measured at or near your brain's surface.
The heart's response seems to depend upon the nature of the particular task and the type of mental processing required. Sometimes the heart will slow down while other organs respond with arousal...other times, the heart would speed up.
The rhythmic beating patterns of the heart are transformed into neural impulses that directly affect the electrical activity of the higher brain centre

Location

The heart is located almost in the centre of your chest, between your lungs. It is tipped slightly, so that part of it sticks out and taps lightly against your left side.
When attempting to locate their heart, most people place their hand on their left chest. Actually, your heart is located in the center of your chest between your lungs. The bottom of the heart is tipped to the left, so you feel more of your heart on your left side of your chest.

Function

The heart starts beating in the unborn fetus before the brain has been formed.
Lub-dub, Lub-dub, Lub-dub - that's the sound of your pulse, which is actually your heart valves opening and closing.
Your pulse is blood stopping and starting as it moves through your arteries.
The muscles of the heart work hard to pump blood to the rest of your body. If you were to give a tennis ball a good, hard squeeze that would be about the same amount of force the heart uses.
The blood that your heart sends to your body provides your body with nutrients and oxygen, as well as removing waste.
The heart is like 2 pumps - the right side of the heart receives blood from the body and sends it the lungs. While the left side receives blood from the lungs and sends it out to the body.
The child's resting pulse rate is, on average, between 90 to 120 beats per minute. An adult is around 70 beats per minute.
The heart beats about 100,000 times each day.
In a 70-year lifetime, the average human heart beats more than 2.5 billion times
The adult heart pumps about 5 litres of blood each minute – approximately 7,600 litres of blood each day – throughout the body.
During an average lifetime, the heart pumps about 184 million litres of blood which is enough to fill more than 3 super tankers.
An adult woman’s heart weighs about 230 grams, a man’s about 280 grams
A child’s heart is about the size of a clenched fist; an adult’s heart is about the size of two fists.
Blood is about 78 percent water.
Blood takes about 20 seconds to circulate throughout the entire vascular system.

Components

The heart is made up of 4 different blood-filled chambers. On top are the right and left atrium (atria = plural). They fill with blood which is returning to the heart from the lungs and body. The right and left ventricles are located on the bottom of the heart and they squirt out the blood to the lungs and the body.
The septum is a thick wall of muscle which runs down the centre of the heart and separates the left and right side.
The atria fill with blood, which then travels to the ventricles. The ventricles squeeze the blood out of the heart. As this occurs, the atria refill and are ready for the next contraction.
Inside the heart are four valves which open and shut and ensure that the blood moves ahead closing quickly to keep the blood from flowing backwards. The mitral valve and the tricuspid valve let blood flow from the atria to the ventricle. The aortic and pulmonary valve control the flow of blood as it leaves the heart.
Your system of blood vessels – arteries, veins and capillaries – is over 96,560 kilometres long.
The aorta is the largest artery in the body, which is almost the diameter of a garden hose.
Capillaries are so small that it takes 10 of them to equal the thickness of a human hair.

The Heart In History

The structure of the heart was first described in 1706, by Raymond de Viessens, a French anatomy professor.
The electrocardiograph (ECG) was invented in 1902 by Dutch physiologist Willem Einthoven. This test is still used to evaluate the heart’s rate and rhythm.
The first heart specialists emerged after World War I.
The first human heart to heart transplant was performed in South Africa on December 3, 1967 by Professor Christiaan Barnard in Groote Schuur Hospital. The patient, Mr. Louis Washkansky only survived for 18 days, after succumbing to pneumonia.

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