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4 interesting facts about the heart
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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Our heart is a hollow muscular organ that receives and pumps blood from the venous trunks to the arterial system. There are many interesting facts about the human heart, some of which Web2Health presents to your attention.
The heart is an eternal worker
If you clench your hand into a fist, you will see the size of your heart. On average, a woman's heart weighs 220 grams, and a man's heart weighs about 300 grams. It continuously and uninterruptedly performs the function of a pumping station, because all arteries and veins converge in the heart. In one contraction, the heart pushes out up to 75 ml of blood, and with an average frequency of contractions per minute, this amount is equal to 4-5 liters.
Embryo heart
The embryo's heart begins to form between 16 and 19 days of pregnancy, and goes through some very interesting changes before it becomes a tiny miniature of the adult heart.
At the beginning of its formation, the embryo's heart resembles a small tube, which, as a result of intensive growth, curls up and then develops into a two-chambered heart, like a frog's. Over time, it turns into a three-chambered heart and becomes similar to a snake's heart. And finally, the heart takes on a human appearance - the formation of the fourth chamber is completed. It begins to beat on the 22nd day of pregnancy, and the blood begins to circulate on the fourth week after conception.
Position of the heart
If you ask where the heart is, most people will put their hand to the left side of their chest.
However, our heart is located slightly to the left of the middle of the chest, behind the sternum. But why does it seem to us that it is on the left?
The left side of the heart is responsible for supplying blood to the most distant parts of the body, and the right side sends blood to the lungs, which are very close. For this reason, the heart does not need much effort to transport blood to the lungs, otherwise it can damage them. But when directing blood through the arteries, the heart makes powerful pushes, which gives us the feeling that the heart is located in the left side of the chest.
Life of the heart outside the body
The heart can continue to beat even outside the body, because it has its own electrical impulses. The main thing is that there is a sufficient supply of oxygen. The heart of an ordinary adult beats 2.5 billion times during a lifetime, 36 million times a year, 100 thousand times a day, 72 times a minute.