Gaby
Throughout history, humanity has penned countless poems and songs about the heart in thousands of languages, depicting it as a vessel of love, kindness, and courage.
However, the primary function of the heart is to sustain our lives. This muscular organ, roughly the size of a fist, manages the circulatory system, pumping oxygen-rich blood throughout the body. It can speed up or slow down depending on our emotions, physical exertion, or illness. But generally, a healthy heart beats steadily and reliably.
So, how many beats does the heart make in a day or even over a lifetime?
There are numerous variations in heart rate. Interestingly, the intervals between heartbeats slow down and speed up by about 100 milliseconds each time we inhale and exhale. This was shared by Dr. Partho Sengupta, the head of the cardiovascular medicine department at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
According to him, the most fascinating aspect of the heart is its ability to change its rate and function based on the body’s metabolic needs. The physiology of the heart constantly adapts, as if it has a mind of its own.
In a healthy adult, the heart beats between 60 to 100 times per minute at rest. While the average rate for most adults is between 55 to 85 beats per minute, according to information from Harvard Medical School. Meanwhile, due to the energy demands of a rapidly growing metabolism, the average resting heart rate for a newborn is between 70 to 190 beats per minute, as reported by the Benioff Children’s Hospital at the University of California, San Francisco.
Dr. Salvatore Savona, a cardiovascular disease specialist at the Wexner Medical Center at Ohio State University in Columbus, notes that as people age, their heart rate typically slows down somewhat. Time takes its toll on the heart muscle.
For instance, aging can lead to the development of fibrosis—an overgrowth of excess tissue that complicates heartbeats—or to abnormal heart rhythms, such as atrial fibrillation, Mr. Savona pointed out.
Cardiologists assert that a person with an average resting heart rate of 70 beats per minute will generate 100,800 heartbeats in a day. Over a year, that amounts to approximately 36.8 million beats. The average lifespan of a modern individual is 77.5 years. Therefore, over a lifetime, their heart will make about 2.85 billion beats.
Is there a limit to how many beats the heart can make before it wears out and stops beating? Dr. Sengupta explained that factors such as age, genetics, injuries, and diseases gradually diminish our heart’s performance. However, the better we care for this hardworking organ, the longer and more efficiently it will function, the expert added.
“While aging is a fact of life, and all functions of our body deteriorate over time, we have the opportunity to at least reduce the wear and tear caused by stress,” Dr. Partho Sengupta said in an interview with Live Science.
