27 Amazing Facts About Your Heart
Take care of your heart. It’s an incredible organ. Here are 27 amazing facts about your heart from
Cleveland Clinic — celebrating 27 years as America’s No. 1 Heart Center!
![grad-cap.png?imageOpt=1&fit=bounds&width=180](https://media-s3-us-east-1.ceros.com/cleveland-clinic/images/2018/07/31/4ba57b61eb0424d94555d9374d09186e/grad-cap.png?imageOpt=1&fit=bounds&width=180)
1 - The more education you have, the lower your risk of heart disease.
![half-dollar.png?imageOpt=1&fit=bounds&width=150](https://media-s3-us-east-1.ceros.com/cleveland-clinic/images/2018/07/31/e7e2a82611069fd6452a9f9ee51a052b/half-dollar.png?imageOpt=1&fit=bounds&width=150)
2 - A normal heart valve is about the size of a half dollar.
![wall-outlet.png?imageOpt=1&fit=bounds&width=135](https://media-s3-us-east-1.ceros.com/cleveland-clinic/images/2018/07/31/f99dbb31898f4e742ae241aee119e47c/wall-outlet.png?imageOpt=1&fit=bounds&width=135)
3 - The first heart pacemakersplugged into a wall socket.
![happy-lady.png?imageOpt=1&fit=bounds&width=300](https://media-s3-us-east-1.ceros.com/cleveland-clinic/images/2018/08/01/b2eff4d7a86f67db502d56b12f43e56c/happy-lady.png?imageOpt=1&fit=bounds&width=300)
4 - Happiness and a strong sense of emotional vitality help lower your risk of heart disease.
![santa-hat.png?imageOpt=1&fit=bounds&width=180](https://media-s3-us-east-1.ceros.com/cleveland-clinic/images/2018/07/31/ad3aca38ecf02eb76b41da1cab5356cb/santa-hat.png?imageOpt=1&fit=bounds&width=180)
5 - The number of heart attacks peaks on Christmas Day, followed by December 26th and New Year’s.
![broken-heart.png?imageOpt=1&fit=bounds&width=225](https://media-s3-us-east-1.ceros.com/cleveland-clinic/images/2019/07/23/eda5783a90eabbff5cf67bddab997e6b/broken-heart.png?imageOpt=1&fit=bounds&width=225)
6 - People really can have a broken heart. Sometimes life situations can cause temporary heart failure.
![bible.png?imageOpt=1&fit=bounds&width=195](https://media-s3-us-east-1.ceros.com/cleveland-clinic/images/2018/07/31/50a12d4723e48acc8d59a9dca2235730/bible.png?imageOpt=1&fit=bounds&width=195)
7 - The first “study” showing benefits of a vegetarian diet appears in the Bible’s Book of Daniel (600 BCE).
![blue-whale.png?imageOpt=1&fit=bounds&width=325](https://media-s3-us-east-1.ceros.com/cleveland-clinic/images/2018/07/31/c4b310055665b76af8065c55574777f3/blue-whale.png?imageOpt=1&fit=bounds&width=325)
8 - The blue whale has the largest heart — weighing over 1,500 pounds.
![stethescope.png?imageOpt=1&fit=bounds&width=216](https://media-s3-us-east-1.ceros.com/cleveland-clinic/images/2018/07/31/3229daaef171507dc45ebc11507e3b98/stethescope.png?imageOpt=1&fit=bounds&width=216)
9 Modesty prompted the invention of the stethoscope. Before it existed, doctors had to press their ears directly to each patient’s chest.
10 - Heart disease has been found in 3,000-year-old mummies.
![clasped-hands.png?imageOpt=1&fit=bounds&width=195](https://media-s3-us-east-1.ceros.com/cleveland-clinic/images/2018/07/31/71b84def3f005d8d2652d62ea9c351a3/clasped-hands.png?imageOpt=1&fit=bounds&width=195)
11 - Your heart is about the size of your two hands clasped together...
![calculator.png?imageOpt=1&fit=bounds&width=280](https://media-s3-us-east-1.ceros.com/cleveland-clinic/images/2018/07/31/99e545ae852f63fed5b13854c1051394/calculator.png?imageOpt=1&fit=bounds&width=280)
12 - It beats 100,000 times a day.
13 - Regular exercise is the single most important key to heart health. And it is FREE.
![sneakers.png?imageOpt=1&fit=bounds&width=260](https://media-s3-us-east-1.ceros.com/cleveland-clinic/images/2018/07/31/fe4fd296ba364250b1d0390ff600484e/sneakers.png?imageOpt=1&fit=bounds&width=260)
![heart-disease.png?imageOpt=1&fit=bounds&width=225](https://media-s3-us-east-1.ceros.com/cleveland-clinic/images/2018/07/31/9e29f84c5a71f868525c66199d6357bf/heart-disease.png?imageOpt=1&fit=bounds&width=225)
14- Heart disease is your greatest health threat (and is a greater danger than breast cancer in women and prostate cancer in men).
![bass-drum.png?imageOpt=1&fit=bounds&width=220](https://media-s3-us-east-1.ceros.com/cleveland-clinic/images/2018/07/31/e3958e093d3edbc05e502e6b78606aa3/bass-drum.png?imageOpt=1&fit=bounds&width=220)
15 - The beating sound is the clap of valve leaflets opening and closing.
![blood-bucket.png?imageOpt=1&fit=bounds&width=180](https://media-s3-us-east-1.ceros.com/cleveland-clinic/images/2018/07/31/79df70e36777dcbd261d5069fcb863ac/blood-bucket.png?imageOpt=1&fit=bounds&width=180)
16 - Each minute your heart pumps 1.5 gallons of blood.
![heart-machine.png?imageOpt=1&fit=bounds&width=280](https://media-s3-us-east-1.ceros.com/cleveland-clinic/images/2018/07/31/13ad5829d4f5e95d1283b1ca9b8f175d/heart-machine.png?imageOpt=1&fit=bounds&width=280)
17 - Your heart is a coordinated machine. The right side pumps blood into your lungs, while the left side pumps it back into your body.
![vip-8.png?imageOpt=1&fit=bounds&width=166](https://media-s3-us-east-1.ceros.com/cleveland-clinic/images/2018/07/31/20b7be4039ba60f06b1e20238744f313/vip-8.png?imageOpt=1&fit=bounds&width=166)
18 -
Celebrities who’ve had open heart surgery in recent years include David Letterman, Bill Clinton, Barbara Walters, Jeff Green and Shaun White.
![massage.png?imageOpt=1&fit=bounds&width=240](https://media-s3-us-east-1.ceros.com/cleveland-clinic/images/2018/08/01/e7097fe2bf85d158f4e5c1372ae252e0/massage.png?imageOpt=1&fit=bounds&width=240)
19 - You control your heart health through diet, exercise and managing stress.
![cancer.png?imageOpt=1&fit=bounds&width=320](https://media-s3-us-east-1.ceros.com/cleveland-clinic/images/2018/08/01/fab674b6a022c0e42b9af109772b5c93/cancer.png?imageOpt=1&fit=bounds&width=320)
20 - Heart cancer is very rare, because heart cells stop dividing early in life.
![heart-woman.png?imageOpt=1&fit=bounds&width=165](https://media-s3-us-east-1.ceros.com/cleveland-clinic/images/2018/08/01/bcc7644e778310b624597ab494a40bf8/heart-woman.png?imageOpt=1&fit=bounds&width=165)
21 - A woman’s average heartbeat is faster than a man’s by almost 8 beats a minute.
![battery.png?imageOpt=1&fit=bounds&width=160](https://media-s3-us-east-1.ceros.com/cleveland-clinic/images/2018/08/01/5409b829cba1f0a27853fa3b1df0d607/battery.png?imageOpt=1&fit=bounds&width=160)
22 - The heart has its ownelectrical supply and will continue to beat when separated from the body.
![eye-ball.png?imageOpt=1&fit=bounds&width=160](https://media-s3-us-east-1.ceros.com/cleveland-clinic/images/2018/08/01/f7d46eb130adc05d7a763cf8a324158e/eye-ball.png?imageOpt=1&fit=bounds&width=160)
23 - Every cell in the bodygets blood from the heart, except for the corneas.
![mile-marker.png?imageOpt=1&fit=bounds&width=60](https://media-s3-us-east-1.ceros.com/cleveland-clinic/images/2018/08/01/96919796d5b225996bf676d76f060f6c/mile-marker.png?imageOpt=1&fit=bounds&width=60)
24 - The heart pumps blood through 60,000 miles of blood vessels!
![tbls.png?imageOpt=1&fit=bounds&width=327&crop=503,354,x0,y0](https://media-s3-us-east-1.ceros.com/cleveland-clinic/images/2019/07/18/e6f1fe8f5cc21c17ca54539fa16ced7a/tbls.png?imageOpt=1&fit=bounds&width=327&crop=503,354,x0,y0)
25 - A normal heart pumps approximately 4 tablespoons of blood with each beat.
![marathon-runner.png?imageOpt=1&fit=bounds&width=347](https://media-s3-us-east-1.ceros.com/cleveland-clinic/images/2020/07/30/4711471a647769a83ed3a1b22fc9d6e6/marathon-runner.png?imageOpt=1&fit=bounds&width=347)
26 - The 26.2-mile marathon can be now run in less than 2 hours, but runners of any speed have 45% lower risk of heart disease or stroke.
![beerheart.png?imageOpt=1&fit=bounds&width=135](https://media-s3-us-east-1.ceros.com/cleveland-clinic/images/2021/08/13/1b20a456f2e2c739d0301e2560a28d73/beerheart.png?imageOpt=1&fit=bounds&width=135)
27 - 27 is the atomic weight of cobalt, which caused heart damage when it was used to make foamier beer. "Beer drinker's heart disease" is now only of historical interest.
![cc-hex.png?imageOpt=1&fit=bounds&width=332](https://media-s3-us-east-1.ceros.com/cleveland-clinic/images/2017/05/11/96384b6fd1e9077e88c253f87d464279/cc-hex.png?imageOpt=1&fit=bounds&width=332)
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