Pros and Cons of Using a Heart Rate Monitor

Heart rate monitors have become intensely popular lately. It has become a fashionable trend for many health-buffs. But aside from that, the heart rate monitor has become a helpful apparatus for people whose goal is to lose or maintain their ideal weight, and simply to keep track of their exercise and fitness habit. But how exactly will a heart rate monitor be able to aid you in your fitness goals? Are there negative consequences of using one?

Monitoring the heart rate during training is truly a great way to stay within your target heart rate zone while ensuring that you’re burning the maximum number of calories.

For runners, or those into brisk walking, the heart rate monitor is an efficient and fitting device since they come in as a wristwatch. They can easily wear it on their wrist and is a very safe way to guide the runner whether to increase or decrease his speed. The sensor will be strapped around the chest and it will automatically detect the person’s heart beat accurately. The results of the reading will be displayed on the watch which is very trouble-free to comprehend. The machine measures directly your body’s performance during your exercise so there will be no need to stop and take your pulse. This provides further motivation to continue working conscientiously on your fitness regime.

An added bonus is that heart rate monitors not only supervises a person’s heart rate, it also keeps track of the calories burned that you can monitor your improvement over time. This made the heart rate monitor a very objective tool in measuring calorie expenditure with your activities. While increasing your exercise level, it is advantageous to do so in a graded and cautious manner to avoid overexertion and extreme stress on the cardiovascular system, particularly the heart muscles.

With the guidance of your physician, your heart rate monitor is an ideal method in assessing your cardiovascular condition, helping you to settle on up to what degree you should increase your level without any risk of acquiring injury. The target heart rate every workout can be determined and your physician can recommend the activities suitable at your target heart rate.

Using a heart rate monitor during training or in a marathon could also help you control the effort that you will pour throughout the race. By displaying your heart rate, it can tell you whether you are starting off in an excessively fast pace. After training, you can review how much effort you have exerted from the beginning to the end of the race and thus improving your chances next time in maintaining an even effort.

But is the heart rate monitor really helping your workout or just making it more complex? Sometimes if people don’t use their monitors correctly, it provides inaccurate data to its users defeating the essence of the device. The computer related saying “garbage in, garbage out” applies to this instrument as well. The information received from the monitor is only as good as the information you input into the device. The calculation of data such as target heart rate, maximum heart rate, and etc. can be tricky and might lead to mistakes due to inaccuracy. Incorrect information could lead you to exercise at a heart rate above than what is healthy for you.

There may also be other factors that can affect the accuracy of the reading. Anxiety and nervousness at the beginning of a race perhaps can increase a person’s heart rate. Your heart rate may remain elevated during the training and during the match itself which will eventually lead to miscalculated results on the screen. Less expensive monitors can give distorted results gathered from interference. Let’s presume you are running with another person wearing a heart rate monitor, or exercising on a machine that has its own heart rate monitor, the monitor you’re wearing will easily pick up the signal from the other machine and alter results.

Physical factors such as discomfort brought about by the chest strap transmitter could also be a disadvantage especially for women. Using this for long durations could lead to soreness and chafing of the skin. Hence, before purchasing a heart rate monitor, you must be sure that you are very comfortable with the transmitter.
After having read the advantages and disadvantages of the heart rate monitor, you can now weigh your options on whether to obtain such instrument or not, or to choose a better type that suits your preference and activities better.

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Too much exercise not good for your heart

New Delhi: A Swedish study has found that endurance athletes, who train and race frequently, may experience a high rate of unusual heart rhythms called arrhythmia.

It found a higher incidence of arrhythmias in cross-country skiers with a long history of endurance training, the Discovery News reported.


Arrhythmia, which is often harmless, can sometimes lead to strokes and other serious problems.

"People who are exercising a lot should probably learn how to identify the symptoms of atrial fibrillation and seek counselling if they get it," said Johan Sundstrom, a cardiovascular epidemiologist at Uppsala University.

Sundstrom emphasized that exercise is essential for overall health and that the vast majority of people would do well to get more of it, not less.

"I would be worried if people thought cross-country skiing, for example, to be dangerous. That would be an unlucky headline," he said.

"We`re looking at extreme amounts of training. Most people need to get off the couch and exercise a little bit," he added.

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Drink black tea daily for a healthy heart

Researchers believe that the humble cuppa, packed with health-giving antioxidants, can help prevent the two killer conditions in a triple-pronged attack.

Regular consumption of tea is claimed to prevent artery-blocking blood clots, control blood pressure and stop arteries from dangerously constricting and inhibiting blood flow.

All three conditions can set off a killer heart attack as blood vessels feeding oxygen to heart muscles become blocked.

An extensive review of 40 research papers by Dr Carrie Ruxton and Dr Pamela Mason evaluated a raft of data linking black tea and disease prevention.

The study found that in most cases black tea was found to produce a significant protective association.

Dr Ruxton and Dr Mason estimate that people who drink three to six cups of tea a day lower their risk of contracting heart disease by 30 to 57 per cent compared with people who never drink it or who drink small amounts.

"Given the available evidence to date, regular black tea consumption is linked with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes," the Daily Express quoted Dr Ruxton as saying.

"Though the amount required to produce such benefits should be the subject of further research, three to six cups of black tea daily appears to contribute to cardiovascular health.

"These beneficial findings are thought to be due to a variety of positive factors in black tea, such as antioxidant flavonoids and theanine, which help to control blood pressure, regulate nitric oxide production (which impacts on arterial function) and inhibit platelet aggregation (which can cause blood clots).

"Our review also found evidence of a link between black tea consumption and a reduced risk of Type 2 diabetes when one to five cups of tea were consumed daily, depending on the study under investigation," she added.

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Eat nuts daily for healthy heart

Scientists have for the first time found a link between eating nuts and higher levels of serotonin in the bodies of patients with metabolic syndrome (MetS), who are at high risk for heart disease.

Serotonin is a substance that helps transmit nerve signals and decreases feelings of hunger, makes people feel happier and improves heart health.

Cristina Andres-Lacueva and colleagues from the Biomarkers and NutriMetabolomics Research Group of the University of Barcelona in collaboration with the Human Nutrition Unit of the Rovira i Virgili University explained that the rise in obesity around the world means more and more patients have MetS.

Symptoms of MetS include excess abdominal fat, high blood sugar and high blood pressure, which increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

To check the biochemical effects of nut consumption, the researchers put 22 MetS patients on a nut-enriched diet for 12 weeks and compared them to another group of 20 patients who were told to avoid nuts.

The scientists analysed the broad spectrum of compounds excreted in the patients' urine and found evidence of several healthful changes.

One surprise was evidence that nut consumption had boosted patients' levels of serotonin metabolites in urine.

They point out that the study provides the first evidence in humans of the beneficial effects of nut consumption in reducing levels of substances in the body associated with inflammation and other cardiovascular risk factors in patients with metabolic syndrome.

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New ‘sensitive’ test may help diagnose heart attack within hours

Washington: A highly sensitive new test may soon enable quicker diagnosis of heart attack than is currently possible, a new study has suggested.

One of the most common reasons patients seek care in an emergency department is for acute chest pain.

“Early identification of individuals at high and intermediate risk for myocardial ischemia [insufficient blood flow to the heart muscle] is crucial because they benefit the most from early and aggressive treatment,” the researchers said.


“According to international consensus and task force definitions of myocardial infarction [(MI; heart attack], the diagnosis of MI is based mainly on an elevated cardiac troponin level exceeding the 99th percentile and demonstrating an increase or decrease over time,” they added.

Highly sensitive troponin assays have been developed recently that reliably assess troponin levels in more than 50 percent of the general population.

“The reliable detection of very low troponin concentrations using these new highly sensitive assays in the acute setting might pose a challenge in everyday clinical practice,” they said.

Till Keller, M.D., of the University Heart Center Hamburg, Germany, and colleagues evaluated the diagnostic performance of the newly developed highly sensitive troponin I (hsTnI) assay compared with a contemporary troponin I (cTnI) assay and their serial changes in the diagnosis of heart attack.

The study included a total of 1,818 patients with suspected acute coronary syndrome (condition such as heart attack or angina) who were enrolled at chest pain units in Germany from 2007 to 2008. Twelve biomarkers including hsTnI and cTnI were measured on admission and after 3 and 6 hours.

Of the patients in the study, 413 (22.7 percent) had a final discharge diagnosis of acute MI. For discrimination of acute MI, both hsTnI and cTnI were superior to the other evaluated diagnostic biomarkers.

Using the 99th percentile cutoff, hsTnI on admission had a sensitivity of 82.3 percent and negative predictive value (NPV) of 94.7 percent; hsTnI determined after 3 hours had a sensitivity of 98.2 percent with NPV of 99.4 percent.

Compared with hsTnI, the cTnI assay (using the 99th percentile as cutoff) had comparable sensitivity and NPV: 79.4 percent sensitivity and 94.0 percent NPV on admission, and 98.2 percent sensitivity and 99.4 percent NPV after 3 hours.

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Active ingredient in Viagra eases heart problems

Washington: An active ingredient in Viagra can alleviate heart problems, a new study has claimed.

According to Bochum’s researchers in cooperation with colleagues from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester (Minnesota), sildenafil makes stiffened cardiac walls elastic again.

They researchers studied dogs with diastolic heart failure, a condition in which the heart chamber does not sufficiently fill with blood. They showed that sildenafil makes stiffened cardiac walls more elastic again.

The drug activates an enzyme that causes giant protein titin the  in the myocardial cells to relax.

“We have developed a therapy in an animal model that, for the first time, also raises hopes for the successful treatment of patients,” Wolfgang Linke of the RUB Institute of Physiology, said.
Sildenafil inhibits a specific enzyme, phosphodiesterase 5 A, which causes the increased formation of a messenger substance (cGMP). The messenger substance activates the enzyme protein kinase G, which attaches phosphate groups to certain proteins.

This so-called phosphorylation causes blood vessels to relax, which was why the “potency pill” Viagra originally came onto the market. The Bochum and Rochester researchers found that the cardiac muscle protein titin is also phosphorylated through the same mechanism.

“The titin molecules are similar to rubber bands. Bochum``s researchers in cooperation with colleagues from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester (Minnesota),” the Bochum physiologist said.

The activity of the protein kinase G causes titin to relax. This makes the cardiac walls more elastic. The effect occurs within minutes of administering the drug.

“Of all the patients aged over 60 who are in hospital because of a weak heart, half suffer from diastolic heart failure,” Linke said.

“Although we know that the decreased distensibility of the cardiac walls is the cause, the disease cannot be treated properly with today’s medicines,” Linke added.

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Stem cells could help a damaged heart fix itself?

Delhi: Damaged hearts could mend themselves with the help of a method that coaxes stem cells to develop into cardiac cells, say researchers.

Scientists in China have unearthed a family of molecules that can transform stem cells into beating heart muscle cells, says a new study.


Scientists believe the discovery of cardionogen could pave the way to new treatment for heart disease, reported the Daily Mail, citing the study published in the Journal of Chemistry and Biology.
Tao Zhong, of Fudan University in Shanghai, who led the research, said: "Despite advances in medicine, management of myocardial infarction (heart attack) and heart failure remains a major challenge."

"Developing therapies that can stimulate heart muscle regeneration in areas of infarction would have enormous medical impact," he added.

Researchers tested the molecules on zebrafish, whose transparent embryos allow scientists to see cells during development.

They found the treatment enlarged the zebrafish heart by stimulating production of new cardiac muscle cells from stem cells. The same thing happened in tests on mice. The next step is to test cardionogen on human cells, said Tao.

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Marathon training may damage heart

MRI scans on 40 athletes training for challenging sporting events like triathlons or alpine cycle races indicated that most of them had stretched heart muscles.

Although many completely recovered after a week but five showed more permanent injuries.

The researchers have pointed out that these changes might cause heart problems like arrhythmia.

They also insisted that their findings should not be misinterpreted that endurance exercise is unhealthy.

In most athletes, a blend of sensible training and adequate recovery should cause an improvement in heart muscle function.

"My personal feeling is that extreme endurance exercise probably does cause damage to the heart in some athletes," said medical director of the London Marathon, Professor Sanjay Sharma.

"I don't believe that the human body is designed to exercise for as long as 11 hours a day, so damage to the heart is not implausible."

But he said it was too early to say that taking part in endurance sports causes long-term damage, the BBC reported.

In the study, the scientists observed the athletes a fortnight before their races, immediately after their races and then about a week later.

Instantly after the race, the athletes' hearts had changed shape. The right ventricle - one of the four chambers in the heart involved in pumping blood around the body - seemed dilated and did not work like the way it had been in the weeks leading up to the race.

Levels of a chemical called BNP, made by the heart in response to excessive stretching, increased.

A week later, most of the athletes' hearts had reverted to the pre-race condition. But in five who had been training and competing for longer than the others, there were signs of scarring of the heart tissue and right ventricular function stayed impaired compared with the pre-race readings.

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Rheumatic heart disease higher in kids

A study conducted by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in and around Delhi to see prevalence of RHD among children in northern India found prevalence of 20.4/1000 school children as against 1 per 1000 children earlier believed.

The study carried out echocardiographic screening of 6,270 randomly selected school children aged 5-15 years. RHD was twice as prevalent among children aged 11-15 years (prevalence of 26.5 per 1000 children) compared to children aged 5-10 years (12.6 per 1000 children). Girls had a higher prevalence of RHD (27.9/1000 girls) compared to boys (13.3/1000 boys).

The study said though RHD was thought to be on the decline in India because of improving standards of living, the estimated prevalence of echocardiograpically detected RHD in India was comparable to those measured in Mozambique (21.5 cases per 1000). The study was published in the British journal 'Heart'.

Dr S Ramakrishnan from AIIMS' department of cardiology told TOI, "Usually, doctors while carrying out a clinical examination listen to the child's heart to check for abnormal rhythms or murmurs that may signify that the heart has been strained. Only when a murmur is detected is an echocardiographic screening done. Our study has now shown that the prevalence of RHD is several fold higher using echocardiographic screening compared with clinical examination (estimated less than 1 in 1000 children)."

Dr Ramakrishnan added, "Though many believe that RHD in India is dipping, we have now shown how rampant it could be."

Dr Anita Saxena from the same department and lead author said RHD can cause chronic heart valve damage which can eventually lead to heart failure. She said in case of an RHD, two valves of the heart among the four get affected. The mitrial valve is the commonest sufferer. The study also showed that thickening of the mitral and/or aortic valve was present in all cases. Of the 128 children, mild valve leakage was found in 101 children, and moderate valve leakage in 11 children.

"Echocardiographic screening for RHD must be done more rigorously," she said.

The report said recent studies from Africa, using echoardiographic screening, had reported a nearly 10-fold higher prevalence of RHD in children.

The prevalence of RHD among asymptomatic school children in India is not known. The suggested risk factors for RHD include overcrowding, poverty and unhygienic living conditions.

"We carried out a large echocardiographic screening survey among asymptomatic school children living in rural areas of north India near Ballabhgarh - 40 km from AIIMS. The objectives of the study were to estimate the prevalence of clinical and subclinical RHD, to identify risk factors associated with RHD and to study the natural history of children with echocardiographically detected RHD," the authors said.

The study revealed older age, female gender, studying in government funded schools, living in kutcha houses made of mud/bamboos and overcrowding as significant predictors of RHD.

"Using data from the present study, the estimated number of children with echocardiographically diagnosed RHD in India alone would be nearly 6 million. Hence, RHD should be prioritised in developing countries where it remains a leading cause of cardiac morbidity and mortality," the study added.

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Sugary drinks bad for women's heart

In this study, researchers compared middle-aged and older women who drank two or more sugar-sweetened beverages a day, such as carbonated sodas or flavoured waters with added sugar, to women who drank one or less daily.

Women consuming two or more beverages per day were nearly four times as likely to develop high triglycerides, and were significantly more likely to increase their waist sizes and to develop impaired fasting glucose levels. The same associations were not observed in men.

"Women who drank more than two sugar-sweetened drinks a day had increasing waist sizes, but weren't necessarily gaining weight," said Christina Shay, Ph.D., lead author of the study and assistant professor at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Centre in Oklahoma City.

"These women also developed high triglycerides and women with normal blood glucose levels more frequently went from having a low risk to a high risk of developing diabetes over time," she stated.

Women may have a greater chance for developing cardiovascular disease risk factors from sugar-sweetened drinks because they require fewer calories than men which makes each calorie count more towards cardiovascular risk in women, Shay said.

Researchers have yet to determine exactly how sugar-sweetened beverages influence cardiovascular risk factors such as high triglycerides in individuals who do not gain weight, Shay said, but further work is planned to try and figure that out.

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Safeguard Your Heart

The latest findings on heart disease are nothing unexpected: It's the number one killer of American men, claiming a life about every 30 seconds. Most young, fit guys shuffle statistics like these into a mental file titled, "Doesn't apply to me." But no matter how old (or young) you are, the only way to stay on top of your game is to know your risk factors and take the right steps to avoid problems down the road. We talked with two heart experts to find out everything you need to know to guarantee your ticker stays stronger longer. 

In Your 20s

"There's a common problem among men in their twenties," says Dr. Eric Topol, M.D., a practicing cardiologist at Scripps Clinic in La Jolla, California. "They don't know they're vulnerable [to heart disease]." Your twenties are the prefect time to establish heart-healthy diet and exercise habits that'll extend your expiration date. That means 30 minutes of exercise five times a week and maintaining a healthy weight and cholesterol level—LDL below 130 mg/dL, HDL of at least 40 mg/dL, according to Dr. Topol. 

Every 20-something average Joe needs an annual physical to evaluate HDL and LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, fasting lipid profile, blood pressure, and family history. If the checkup goes well, one appointment is enough to clear your conscious. But if you're an athlete or you hit the weight room more than five times a week, ask your doctor for an echocardiogram to ensure you don't have a heart abnormality," says Dr. John Elefteriades, M.D., the chief of cardiac surgery at Yale University. 

"If you have a silent aneurism (one that doesn't cause you to feel symptoms), you're susceptible to internal splitting of the aorta," Dr. Elefteriades says. An echocardiogram is the only way to detect this problem. The test also spots dilated cardiomyopathy (a condition of heart failure in which the heart gets stretched too big and too thin) and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (an inherited condition where the heart muscle is overgrown). Your 20s Checklist:

• 30 minutes of exercise five times a week
• Annual physicals
• Echocardiogram
• Cholesterol: LDL less than 130 mg/dL and HDL greater than 40 mg/dL
• Blood pressure: 119/79 mm HG or lower
• Lipid profile: Triglycerides less than 150 mg/dL

In Your 30s

Although most heart conditions are strongly hereditary, they don't always manifest as early as your twenties, Dr. Elefteriades said. So along with your standard health check, schedule another echocardiogram 10 years after the first one—especially if you're regularly weight lifting, wrestling, playing football, or participating in any sport with short bursts of activity. 

Men older than 35 should also have an electrocardiogram (EKG), which traces the electrical waves of the heart, every 5 years. This test may show evidence of hardening of the heart's arteries (arthrosclerosis)—a preventable and treatable condition that restricts blood flow and may cause a blood clot. Your 30s Checklist:

• 30 minutes of exercise five times a week
• Annual physicals
• Echocardiogram, 10 years after the first
• Electrocardiogram (EKG), if older than 35
• Cholesterol: LDL less than 130 mg/dL and HDL greater than 40 mg/dL
• Blood pressure: 119/79 mm HG or lower
• Lipid profile: Triglycerides less than 150 mg/dL

In Your 40s

When you hit 40, your doctor should start monitoring the overall degree of inflammation within your body with C-reactive protein (CRP) testing. The higher your CRP level, the higher your risk of cardiovascular disease. But there's no need to make an extra appointment for this one—the same simple blood test that checks your cholesterol levels measures CRP levels. The best way to keep CRP levels in check? Regular exercise and being at the right body weight. 

Your 40s Checklist:

• 30 minutes of exercise five times a week
• Annual physicals
• Echocardiogram, 10 years after your last one
• EKG, 5 years after your last one
• Cholesterol: LDL less than 130 mg/dL and HDL greater than 40 mg/dL
• Blood pressure: 119/79 mm HG or lower
• Lipid profile: Triglycerides less than 150 mg/dL
• C-reactive protein: Less than 1 mg per liter

In Your 50s

Fifty is the typical age when some men can develop coronary heart disease, according to Dr. Topol. The prevention prescription? An exercise stress test. This test, sometimes called a treadmill test, monitors how well your heart handles work. As you walk or pedal on an exercise machine, the electrical activity of your heart and your blood pressure are measured. As your body works harder during the test, it requires more oxygen, so the heart must pump more blood. 

The test will help pick up subtle arteriosclerosis (blockage of the coronary arteries), and determine the cause of any chest pain and the exercise capacity of your heart. A stress test isn't a necessary for men younger than fifty unless you have a strong family history of heart disease, according to Dr. Elefteriades. Your 50s Checklist:

• 30 minutes of exercise five times a week
• Annual physicals
• Echocardiogram, 10 years after your last one
• EKG, 5 years after your last one
• Exercise stress test
• Cholesterol: LDL less than 130 mg/dL and HDL greater than 40 mg/dL
• Blood pressure: 119/79 mm HG or lower
• Lipid profile: Triglycerides less than 150 mg/dL
• C-reactive protein: Less than 1 mg per liter

At Every Age If you experience chest pain or shortness of breath due to exertion, get to the hospital right away. These are the two primary symptoms of heart disease and should never go unchecked. "Men are deniers," Dr. Elefteriades says. "It's usually someone else in their lives—wife, girlfriend, mom—that forces them to confront symptoms." Other warning signs to speak up about are light-headedness and heart palpitations (an abnormal heart beat).

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Beauty Skin starts with Healthy Liver

In essence, liver is the most overworked organ in the body, having to break down all the increasing toxins found in our environment (including our air and water) and our food. Commonly refers as the chemical factory of your body that builds or recycles substances you need for goodhealth and breaks down those you don’t.

If your liver isn’t functioning properly, toxins that would normally be filtered by the liver will then gets accumulated in the body. Most people’s livers today work only at around 3?5-40% of their potential capacity because of the large amount of toxins we ingest. If your liver isn’t functioning properly, toxins that would normally be filtered by the liver will then gets accumulated in the body.

Most people’s livers today work only at around 3?5-40% of their potential capacity because of the large amount of toxins we ingest. If you have health insurance with a company like Aviva or Bupa then it may be worth checking with them to see if you are covered before visiting your doctor to check on your liver. It is not too much hassle and is a good idea because just in case there is a problem, you can get treatment promptly

When liver is functioning properly, the organ can clean up to 99% of bacteria and toxins from the blood. Around 2.25 litres of blood pass through the liver every minute for detoxification, and every day the liver manufactures about 1 litre of bile, which helps carry away toxins via the bowel.

tired outTypical symptoms of a sluggish liver are, feeling constantly tired even though you have slept, nausea (especially after a fatty meal or alcohol), skin disorders such as acne, eczema and psoriasis, muscle and joint pain, age spots on the skin, and regular infections.

Also, most don’t associate being constipated with poor liver function, but blood from the bowel goes first to the liver, via the portal venous system, hence a bowel loaded with rubbish is going to overload the liver too.

Other symptoms of poor liver function can include yellowing whites of the eyes, yellowish alike  skin, fever, nausea, difficulty digesting fatty foods, and an increased sensitivity to cigarette smoke, strong perfume, petrol and other chemicals.

Because the brain is unable to disarm a wide range of toxins, it relies on the liver to clean the blood before it gets there. So, over the long term, an under-performing liver can have dire consequences for the brain and nervous system, including memory loss, Parkinson’s Disease and zheimer’s Disease.

While detoxification is the key function of the liver, it also performs these important functions :-

* produces bile to aid fat digestion ;

* as well as eliminate toxins ;

* manufactures and balances hormones ;

* stores various vitamins and minerals ;

* assembles amino acids ;

* makes cholesterol ;

* controls glucose and fat supplies ;

* plays a key role in immunity.

healthy dietaryYour digestive system is closely involved in the health of your liver, as the blood from your gestive system, where nutrients are absorbed from your food, goes directly to the liver for filtering before it goes anywhere else in the body. If your diet is good and your digestion and absorption are working well, then the nutrients needed for good health will make it to the liver and then on into the body.

However if your digestive system is generally toxic, result from a poor, low nutrient, high-fat diet, constipation, poor gut flora, and so on, these toxins, and any others foods that you ingest, will similarly be delivered directly to your liver which adds to the liver’s workload.

The good news is that the liver is capable of regenerating itself, so with a good diet and lifestyle and the right supplements there’s no reason you can’t maintain liver function at an optimal level at any age.

And if you look after your liver, your skin literally glows with health. Begin with Healthy Lifestyle !

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The Human Heart - Amazing Facts

The average adult heart beats 72 times a minute; 100,000 times a day; 3,600,000 times a year; and 2.5 billion times during a lifetime. Though weighing only 11 ounces on average, a healthy heart pumps 2,000 gallons of blood through 60,000 miles of blood vessels each day. A kitchen faucet would need to be turned on all the way for at least 45 years to equal the amount of blood pumped by the heart in an average lifetime. The volume of blood pumped by the heart can vary over a wide range, from five to 30 liters per minute. Every day, the heart creates enough energy to drive a truck 20 miles. In a lifetime, that is equivalent to driving to the moon and back. Because the heart has its own electrical impulse, it can continue to beat even when separated from the body, as long as it has an adequate supply of oxygen. The fetal heart rate is approximately twice as fast as an adult’s, at about 150 beats per minute. By the time a fetus is 12 weeks old, its heart pumps an amazing 60 pints of blood a day. The heart pumps blood to almost all of the body’s 75 trillion cells. Only the corneas receive no blood supply. A healthy heart pumps approximately 2,000 gallons of blood a day During an average lifetime, the heart will pump nearly 1.5 million gallons of blood—enough to fill 200 train tank cars. Five percent of blood supplies the heart, 15-20% goes to the brain and central nervous system, and 22% goes to the kidneys. The “thump-thump” of a heartbeat is the sound made by the four valves of the heart closing. The heart does the most physical work of any muscle during a lifetime. The power output of the heart ranges from 1-5 watts. While the quadriceps can produce 100 watts for a few minutes, an output of one watt for 80 years is equal to 2.5 gigajoules. The heart begins beating at four weeks after conception and does not stop until death. A newborn baby has about one cup of blood in circulation. An adult human has about four to five quarts which the heart pumps to all the tissues and to and from the lungs in about one minute while beating 75 times. The heart pumps oxygenated blood through the aorta (the largest artery) at about 1 mile (1.6 km) per hour. By the time blood reaches the capillaries, it is moving at around 43 inches (109 cm) per hour. Early Egyptians believed that the heart and other major organs had wills of their own and would move around inside the body. An anonymous contributor to the Hippocratic Collection (or Canon) believed vessel valves kept impurities out of the heart, since the intelligence of man was believed to lie in the left cavity. Plato theorized that reasoning originated with the brain, but that passions originated in the “fiery” heart. The term “heartfelt” originated from Aristotle’s philosophy that the heart collected sensory input from the peripheral organs through the blood vessels. It was from those perceptions that thought and emotions arose. Prolonged lack of sleep can cause irregular jumping heartbeats called premature ventricular contractions (PVCs). Some heavy snorers may have a condition called obtrusive sleep apnea (OSA), which can negatively affect the heart. Cocaine affects the heart’s electrical activity and causes spasm of the arteries, which can lead to a heart attack or stroke, even in healthy people. Galen of Pergamum, a prominent surgeon to Roman gladiators, demonstrated that blood, not air, filled arteries, as Hippocrates had concluded. However, he also believed that the heart acted as a low-temperature oven to keep the blood warm and that blood trickled from one side of the heart to other through tiny holes in the heart. Galen agreed with Aristotle that the heart was the body’s source of heat, a type of “lamp” fueled by blood from the liver and fanned into spirituous flame by air from the lungs. The brain merely served to cool the blood.f In 1929, German surgeon Werner Forssmann (1904-1979) examined the inside of his own heart by threading a catheter into his arm vein and pushed it 20 inches and into his heart, inventing cardiac catheterization, a now common procedure. On December 3, 1967, Dr. Christiaan Barnard (1922-2001) of South Africa transplanted a human heart into the body of Louis Washansky. Although the recipient lived only 18 days, it is considered the first successful heart transplant. “Atrium” is Latin for “entrance hall,” and “ventricle” is Latin for “little belly. A woman’s heart typically beats faster than a man’s. The heart of an average man beats approximately 70 times a minute, whereas the average woman has a heart rate of 78 per minute. Blood is actually a tissue. When the body is at rest, it takes only six seconds for the blood to go from the heart to the lungs and back, only eight seconds for it to go the brain and back, and only 16 seconds for it to reach the toes and travel all the way back to the heart. A large-buxomed female patient prompted a physician to invent the stethoscope French physician Rene Laennec (1781-1826) invented the stethoscope when he felt it was inappropriate to place his ear on his large-buxomed female patients' chests. Physician Erasistratus of Chios (304-250 B.C.) was the first to discover that the heart functioned as a natural pump. In his text De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem, the father of modern anatomy, Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564), argued that the blood seeped from one ventricle to another through mysterious pores Galen argued that the heart constantly produced blood. However, William Harvey’s (1578-1657) discovery of the circulation system in 1616 revealed that there was a finite amount of blood in the body and that it circulated in one direction. The right atrium holds about 3.5 tablespoons of blood. The right ventricle holds slightly more than a quarter cup of blood. The left atrium holds the same amount of blood as the right, but its walls are three times thicker. Grab a tennis ball and squeeze it tightly: that’s how hard the beating heart works to pump blood. In 1903, physiologist Willem Einthoven (1860-1927) invented the electrocardiograph, which measures electric current in the heart.

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