1. Your heart beats 100,000 times a day
You likely don’t spend a lot of time thinking about your heartbeat, but this muscle is one of the most fascinating parts of the human body. The human heart beats an average of 100,000 time a day and 35 million times a year. During your lifetime your heart will beat around 2.5 billion times.
2. Women’s hearts beat faster than men’s hearts
If you think women are ahead of men, when it comes to the human heart, this is true. The Daily Mail reported that a Canadian study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that a woman’s circadian rhythm runs between 1.7 and 2.3 hours, or eight beats per minute, ahead of her male counterparts. Hormonal differences between men and women are thought to be the reason women’s hearts beat faster.
3. Your heart can beat outside of your body
The human heart is a pretty complex muscle, and one of the most interesting things about it is that your heart can beat outside of your body. Dr. Mercola explained that because the heart has its own electrical system, it can beat outside of your body as long as it has an adequate supply of oxygen.
4. Your heart pumps an incredible amount of blood
During your lifetime, your heart pumps more blood through your body than you can imagine. The amount of blood your hearts pumps over the course of your life is equal to kitchen faucet turned on full blast for 45 years.
5. Laughing can increase your heart’s blood flow
Laughing is actually good for your heart. A good belly laugh can send 20% more blood flowing through your entire body. One study found that when people watched a funny movie, their blood flow increased. That’s why laughter might just be the perfect antidote to stress.
Image Credit: McKinley Advisors
6. Your heart generates enough energy to fly to the moon
Your heart generates the same amount of energy in your lifetime as it takes to fly to the moon.
7. Lack of sleep can cause an irregular heartbeat
One study revealed lack of sleep can increase your chance of having an irregular heartbeat by up to 29%
8. People in love have synchronized heartbeats
For all of the romantics out there, a study conducted by the University of California, Davis revealed that when two people are in love their heartbeats synch up. In heterosexual couples, women’s heartbeats tend to default to their male partners. “The researchers speculate that women [having] a strong link to their partners may have something to do with them having more empathy,” the journal Nature noted.
9. Your heart generates enough pressure to squirt blood 30 feet
The human heart is strong AF. In fact, it’s so strong that your heart’s contractions create enough pressure to squirt blood 30 feet.
10. Being heartbroken can damage your heart
If you need more proof that your emotions have an impact on your heart, the Mayo Clinic reported that broken-heart syndrome is a real thing. When you suffer heartbreak, you may have chest pains and shortness of breath that mimic symptoms of a heart attack. “In broken heart syndrome, there’s a temporary disruption of your heart’s normal pumping function in one area of the heart. The remainder of the heart functions normally or with even more forceful contractions. Broken heart syndrome may be caused by the heart’s reaction to a surge of stress hormones.”