In honor of American Heart Month, we figured providing you some heart facts for your cranium will make you king of the water cooler for a short time. Without further ado let’s get pumpin!
- For years psychologist maintained the idea of the brain being in charge of our feels. However, recent research is telling us different. The brain and the heart are in constant chatter and the changed signals of emotions from the brain also go to the heart. Infact, HeartMath’s research shows that when we experience heart-felt emotions like love, care, appreciation, and compassion, the heart produces a very different rhythm! (1)
- Early Egyptians believed that the heart and other major organs had wills of their own and would move around inside the body. Kinda makes you wonder what their success rate of heart surgery was if they considered a heart might be in a kneecap. (2)
- Grab your balls for this one… your tennis balls. Go ahead and squeeze that furry green orb tightly; that’s how hard the beating heart works to pump blood through the body. (3)
- On that note, have you ever wondered if hooking up a super-soaker to your main heart arteries would provide sufficient power to squirt an attack on your opponents? Well it would’ve worked! The pressure a human heart generates is strong enough to squirt blood 30 feet across a room. “I feel the need… the need to bleed!” (4)
- (Don’t) eat your heart out, however; the heart is a muscle and has many similarities with steak, roasts, and ground beef. Animal hearts usually have higher amounts of protein, thiamine, folate, several B vitamins and a host of other amino acids that can improve metabolism. They are usually cheaper too since people seemed turned off by them.(5)
- To the left, to the left, everybody thinks that the hearts to the left… and they’re wrong. I promised you water cooler cred, here it is. Your heart rest in the center of your chest, right below the sternum. It’s just tilted to the left making the heart thumps easier to hear on that side. Mic Drop. (6)
- The heart of a man and woman in love will begin to synchronize after the couple has gazed into each other’s eyes for three minutes. I’ve also observed the heart rate of a stranger will increase if you stare at them for three minutes. (7)
- A baby’s heart starts beating about 3-4 weeks after conception. Which is crazy since it isn’t even the size of a sesame seed yet! (That’s a bonus factoid! I’m workin’ that OT!) (8)
- It was modesty that promoted the invention of the stethoscope. Before then, male physicians had to lay their ears on patient’s chests… I don’t feel the need to explain the quandary any further. (9)
- Last one! If you’re ever feeling lonely, you always have an audience within yourself. That’s right, that beating sound of your heart is literally the clap of the heart valves opening and closing. Just don’t brag to your friends you’ve got the CLAP. (10)
**BONUS**
- Earlier this year it was discovered that Dr. Kyle Clifford’s heart was amongst the kindest of all the hearts placed in family doctors. And he uses a stethoscope.
Until next time. Just know I heart you all.
References:
(1) www.heartmath.org/today
(2) Davis, Goode P., et. al. The Heart: The Living Pump. Washington D.C.: U.S. News Books,1981.
(3) Parramon’s Editorial Team. Essential Atlas of Physiology. Hauppauge, NY: Barron’s Educational Series, Inc, 2005.
(4) Magovern, Christopher, Dr. “10 Things You May Not Know About Your Heart.” ABC News. February 14, 2012. Accessed: June 9, 2017.
(5) https://www.mensfitness.com/nutrition/what-to-eat/7-nutrient-packed-animal-organs
(6) https://www.quora.com/Why-is-the-heart-off-center-in-the-chest
(7) https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130213093220.htm
(8) https://www.babycenter.ca/slideshow-baby-size
(9) http://modernnotion.com/need-modesty-invented-stethoscope/
(10) https://health.clevelandclinic.org/2017/10/23-amazing-facts-about-your-heart-infographic/