Heart Facts – 28 Interesting Facts About Heart

Facts About the Heart

The right side of the heart receives dark and deoxygenated blood brought back by the veins from all parts of the body. The blood is then sent to the lungs for purification.

The heart delivers nutrients, oxygen, to the remotest location of the body. The muscles and the tissues will die if it does not get this life giving fluid called blood which is actually a connective tissue. It carries oxygen and transports back carbon dioxide formed as a result of different metabolic processes in the body.

The heart must beat continuously and therefore needs enormous amount of blood and nutrition. The heart is supplied with oxygenated blood by thick coronary arteries which branch off the aorta and spreads across the myocardium providing nutrition and oxygen.

When any of these arteries gets clogged with a blood clot, supply of blood to that part of heart which the artery supplies stops leading to shortage of oxygen and nutrients, a condition known in lay man terms as heart attack.

Heart ailments do not distinguish between a male and a female and more women die of heart diseases than cancer. The incidence of heart disease increases dramatically in women after menopause.

According to the American Heart Association one in three women in the US is suffering from some kind of cardiac ailment.

A healthy heart is about the size of a fist but the size could depend on the size of a person as well as the condition of the heart.

The heart can enlarge as a result of certain conditions. Congestive heart ailment can cause the heart to expand. Hypertension is caused by the narrowing of the arteries and puts extra load on the ventricles which causes it to enlarge.

The heart rate falls when a person sleeps and can drop to 60 beats per minute and can sometimes go as low as 40 bpm. Sleeping reduces the metabolism of the body and also shuts down most voluntary muscles and the heart pumps at a much less rate.

Heart attack symptoms could differ in men and women. Heart attack symptoms in men include crushing chest pain, sweating and nausea, inn women it manifests as shortness of breath, dizziness, and lightheadedness or fainting, pain in the lower chest or upper abdomen and upper back pressure.