The Incredible Mechanics of the Heart

If the average heart rate is 75 beats per minute, a human heart would beat approximately 108,000 times in one day, more than 39 million times in one year, and nearly 3 billion times during a 75-year lifespan.

Stroke volume is the volume of blood ejected from the heart per beat. It is commonly considered that the average stroke volume at rest is approximately 70 ml. Cardiac output is the volume of blood ejected from the heart per minute and is measured by multiplying the stroke volume by the heart rate. The average cardiac output at rest can be considered to be approximately five liters and since adult males typically average about five to six liters of blood and adult females average four to five liters, we therefore circulate our entire volume of blood around the body every minute. Over one year, 10,000,000 liters or 2.6 million gallons of blood is sent through roughly 60,000 miles of blood vessels.

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