The average adult heart beats 72 times a minute, 100,000 times a day, 3.6 million times a year, and 2.5 billion times during a lifetime.1
At only 11 ounces on average, a healthy heart pumps 2,000 gallons of blood through 60,000 miles of blood vessels each day.2
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.3
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.3
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.2
The heart pumps blood to almost all of the body's 75 trillion cells.2
A healthy heart pumps approximately 2,000 gallons of blood a day.2
During an average lifetime, the heart will pump nearly 1.5 million gallons of blood.3
The heart uses 5% of the body's blood, the brain and central nervous system use 15-20% and the kidneys use 22%.3
The heart does the most physical work of any muscle during a lifetime.3
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.4
Some heavy snorers may have a condition called obtrusive sleep apnea (OSA), which can negatively affect the heart.5
In 1929, German surgeon Werner Forssmann (1904-1979) examined the inside of his own heart by threading a catheter into his arm vein and pushing it 20 inches and into his heart, inventing cardiac catheterization, a now common procedure.1
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.6
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.5
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 to the brain and back, and only 16 seconds for it to reach the toes and travel all the way back to the heart.2
References
1 Parramon's Editorial Team. 2005. Essential Atlas of Physiology. Hauppauge, NY: Barron's Educational Series, Inc.
2 Daniels, Patricia, et. al. 2007. Body: The Complete Human. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society.
3 Avraham, Regina. 2000. The Circulatory System. Philadelphia, PA: Chelsea House Publishers.
4 Tsiaras, Alexander. 2005. The InVision Guide to a Healthy Heart. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers.
5 Chilnick, Lawrence. 2008. Heart Disease: An Essential Guide for the Newly Diagnosed. Philadelphia, PA: Perseus Books Group.
6 The Heart and Circulatory System. 2000. Pleasantville, NY: The Reader's Digest Association, Inc.
