How many beats does the heart make in a day, a year and a lifetime: how to count
You can check your pulse at any time by placing your fingers on your wrist
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The heart performs an extremely important job in our body – it supports our life. This small but very powerful organ, about the size of a fist, continuously pumps blood throughout the body every day, supplying it with oxygen.
It can change its rhythm depending on what we are doing or feeling. For example, when we are worried or running, the heart works faster, and when we rest, it slows down. And although it can temporarily speed up due to emotions or physical exertion, the heart beats rhythmically in a healthy person.
How your heart works, what affects its rhythms and how to properly maintain its health for many years, was investigated Live Science and Cleveland Clinic.
How to calculate the number of heartbeats in a lifetime?
On average, our heart beats 60-100 times per minute. It depends on age, state of health and even yours physical activity. If you have a heart rate of 70 beats per minute, your heart beats more than 100,000 times a day. This is almost 37 million hits per year. During the average lifespan (77.5 years), the heart has time to contract approximately 2.85 billion times.
However, these numbers may be different for everyone, after all heart rate varies due to many factors. For example, in newborns, the heart beats much faster – from 70 to 190 beats per minute, because the body of babies has high metabolic needs.
How does the heart rate change with age?
As we age, our heart gradually slows down. This is due to the fact that the heart muscle is affected by aging processes, such as development fibrosis – excessive growth of tissues, which makes it difficult for the heart to contract. Heart rhythm disturbances may also occur, including atrial fibrillation, which is the most common type of arrhythmia in the elderly.
Lack of care for the heart, wrong lifestyle or chronic diseases can lead to serious problems. But the good news is that by eating right, exercising regularly, and taking care of our health, we can significantly reduce the effects of time on our heart.
How to measure your pulse?
It is important to be able to measure your pulse – the number of heartbeats in one minute. The pulse can be checked at any time by simply placing your fingers on the wrist or on the neck in the area of the artery, and count the beats in 60 seconds.
For an adult, a normal heart rate at rest is 60 to 100 beats per minute. If your heart rate is consistently higher or lower than these values, it may indicate health problems and indicate the need to consult a doctor. But this is not always a cause for concern: for example, professional athletes can have a resting heart rate even lower than 60 beats, and this is absolutely normal for their physical condition.
How does caring for the heart affect health?
The heart is a very durable organ, but it needs care like any other part of our body. No one can avoid the aging process, but eating right, getting enough sleep, exercising regularly, and managing stress can make the heart work much easier and keep it healthy.
As Dr. Partho Sengupta points out, our heart is able to sense the body’s needs and adapt accordingly. But a lot also depends on us: how well we take care of our health, whether we eat right, whether we rest enough and whether we provide our body with the necessary physical exercises.
Earlier we told that scientists discovered a non-obvious connection between heart disease and the brain.
