Love Your Heart

Our heart is thought of as the center of our thoughts and emotions. At times we speak of the heart when someone has great enthusiasm or courage. February is American Heart Month. The topic of heart disease can be somewhat discouraging. But beating inside your chest is a pretty powerful muscle. Here are some amazing facts about this faithful organ:Love Your Heart

  • The more education you have, the lower your risk of heart disease.
  • The normal heart valve is about the size of a half dollar.
  • The first pacemakers plugged into a wall socket.
  • Happiness and a strong sense of emotional vitality helps lower your risk of heart disease.
  • The number of heart attacks peaks on Christmas Day followed by December 26th and New Year’s.
  • The first heart cell starts to beat as early as 4 weeks.
  • The first “study” showing benefits of vegetarian diet appears in the Bible’s Book of Daniel (600 BCE).
  • The blue whale has the largest heart – weighing 1,500 pounds.
  • Modesty prompted the invention of the stethoscope. Before it existed, doctors had to press their ears directly to each patient’s chest.
  • Heart disease has been found in 3,000-year-old mummies.
  • Your heart is about the size of your two hands clasped together.
  • Your heart beats 100,000 times a day.
  • Regular exercise is the most important key to heart health.
  • The beating sound is the clap of valve leaflets opening and closing.
  • Each minute your heart pumps 1.5 gallons of blood.
  • Your heart is a coordinated machine. The right side pumps into your lungs while the left side pumps it back into your body.
  • You control your heart health through diet, exercise, and managing stress.
  • Heart cancer is very rare because heart cells stop dividing early in life.
  • A woman’s average heartbeat is faster than a man’s by almost 8 beats a minute.
  • The heart has it’s own electrical supply and will continue to beat when separated from the body.

Heart And Vascular Team. “22 Amazing Facts About Your Heart (Infographic).” Health Essentials from Cleveland Clinic. Cleveland Clinic, 02 Aug. 2016. Web. 10 Feb. 2017.