The human heart is the body’s engine room. The heart is an organ that pumps blood into the body. The heart is a pump with a built-in power supply. The heart is responsible for pumping life-sustaining blood via of 60,000-mile-long network of vessels. The organ beats 100,000 times a day,40 million times a year, in total clocking up to 3 billion heart beats over an average lifetime. It keeps the body freshly supplied with oxygen and nutrients,while clearing away harmful waste matter. It pumps up to  50-65 gallons of blood over a 70-90 year life span.

    The heart is in the middle of your chest, tilted slightly to the left. The heart, blood vessels,and blood work together to supply each of our cells with all of it’s needs.

    Heart transplant is the removal of a diseased heart from a patient and it’s replacement with a healthy heart. The first heart transplant is an experimental model was performed by  French surgeon Alexis Carrel in 1905. American surgeon Norman Shumway achieved  the first successful heart transplant on a dog in 1958. South African surgeon Christian Barnard performed the first heart transplant in 1969.

    The heart works hard when we relaxed or a sleep and even harder when we work or exercise. It never stops for rest or repair. The heart is the most incredible pump in the world.

    A heart attack happens most often to people that smoke, and people that don’t exercise. It causes chest pain. The pain is located in the center of the chest. It’s intense and is described by most victims as the worst pain in the world.

    The heart is divided by septa into right and left halves, and each half is subdivided into two chambers. The upper chamber is separated by a partition. The lower chamber is separated by  interventricular septum. The atria receives blood from various parts of the body and passes it into the ventricles. The ventricles pump blood to the lungs and to the remainder of the body.

    An unborn babies heart already beats and pumps blood through the beginnings of major blood vessels by about four weeks after conception. A baby’s heart weighs about 11 ounces. That probably the same weight as one of your shoes. A baby’s heart is very fragile. If you ever try to scare your baby brother or sister the heart will stop beating for at least 5 seconds. So the next time you try to scare a baby remember the heart is very fragile.

Chelsea Feliz