Heart beat: amazing when you think about it!

[Frank]

Something I heard on the radio this afternoon while driving to pick up my daughter after a week at her moms and grandparents made me think today of how many times our hearts beat.

Using a heart rate of 60 beats per minute:

60 BPM X 60 minutes = 3,600 beats per hour

3,600 BPH x 24 hours = 86,400 beats per day

86,400 BPD X 365 days = 31,536,000 beats per year

Multiply 31,536,000 BPY by how old you are...how in the world can your heart still be working????

This got me thinking about how we, for the most part, neglect taking care of our hearts. I know riding is good, but overall we don't always treat our hearts like the incredible device they are.

It also got me thinking about the miracle that is our hearts. We don't have to think about making it beat, it never rests at night even while we sleep, and it keeps pumping while we redline it on our bikes.

Amazing!

[39cross]

[QUOTE=Frank]Multiply 31,536,000 BPY by how old you are...how in the world can your heart still be working????[QUOTE]

I'm feeling tired now thinking about how hard I'm working...time for a nap.

Pretty amazing, as you say!

So how does one take care of one's heart? Exercise? Good diet? Anything special?

[keno]

Floss it regularly.

keno

[Dekonick]

Floss it regularly.

keno

There is a grain of truth to that statement. Floss your teeth = healthy for your heart.

[Ray]

If it should turn out that everyone has a predetermined finite number of beats in their heart before it just up and stops, we're sure gonna have egg on our faces for all of this bike riding we've been doing. I know the evidence points against it, but we used to think smoking was good for you, so we've proven ourselves idiots often enough before.

I'm gonna sit right here for a while.

-Ray

[keno]

maybe we should put up a plaque.

keno

[benb]

If it should turn out that everyone has a predetermined finite number of beats in their heart before it just up and stops, we're sure gonna have egg on our faces for all of this bike riding we've been doing. I know the evidence points against it, but we used to think smoking was good for you, so we've proven ourselves idiots often enough before.

I'm gonna sit right here for a while.

-Ray

Think this has been covered before.. I think the hypothesis is that in the end a cyclist's heart beats less... the high heart rate while exercising is negated by the lower heart rate when resting.

The guy who is fat & out of shape watching TV on the couch has a higher resting heart rate 24 hours a day and uses up his "ticks" just as fast if not faster.

e.x. rough estimate...

Cyclist with resting heart rate of 60bpm

20 hours of 60bpm = 1200 beats
4 hour ride with average HR of 150bpm = 600 beats
Total for day = 1800 beats

Couch Potato with resting heart rate of 90bpm
24 hours x 90bpm = 2160 beats

Oversimplified but the cyclist is probably running a lower heart rate in any daily activity like cooking, cleaning, walking, sitting at a desk, etc.. as a result of increased fitness.

[Louis]

Couch Potato with resting heart rate of 90bpm

That's scary.

[benb]

I don't know what is considered abnormal or how often someone would have a resting HR of 90.

Quick search says 70-80 is normal for non-athletes. Above 85 is considered a danger sign?

If you drop the couch potatoes resting HR to 80bpm his heart still beats more then the cyclist, just not as extreme a difference.

[Louis]

I bet at least 75% of the folks on this forum are below 55 bpm resting.

[Dekonick]

maybe we should put up a plaque.

keno

ROFL - that is a GOOD one! :beer:

[Dekonick]

I bet at least 75% of the folks on this forum are below 55 bpm resting.

I dunno - alot of yall seem to drink alot of coffee, expresso, etc...

My poison is diet pepsi - love the stuff. Terrible for you...

[67-59]

I dunno - alot of yall seem to drink alot of coffee, expresso, etc...

My poison is diet pepsi - love the stuff. Terrible for you...

I drink a boatload of coffee every day...and my resting HR is around 50....

The latest research shows that coffee (caffeine in general) isn't as bad for you as once thought -- and actually can be good. Turns out that the older studies of caffeine didn't account for other factors (most importantly, that many caffeine drinkers are also smokers :no: ). Here's a 2007 study that shows drinking caffeinated beverages might actually decrease heart disease mortality (except in severely hypertensive people): http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17284734

[fiamme red]

I bet at least 75% of the folks on this forum are below 55 bpm resting.My resting heart rate is 60 bpm. Even when I was at my fittest aerobically, it was never below 55. I don't know if that means anything.

[Kevan]

I don't want any subconscious signal reaching the ticker making it think it needs to retire.

[KirkKaas]

When I finally received my pacemaker this year that set the range between 75 and 120 based on the activity level that the pacer concluded I was involved in. I find it amazing daily that I have a little machine keeping the old heart ticking.

Kirk

[regularguy412]

If it should turn out that everyone has a predetermined finite number of beats in their heart before it just up and stops, we're sure gonna have egg on our faces for all of this bike riding we've been doing. I know the evidence points against it, but we used to think smoking was good for you, so we've proven ourselves idiots often enough before.

I'm gonna sit right here for a while.

-Ray

I've heard that research has been done on this topic. The number I remember hearing is 1.5 Billion beats in a lifetime for mammals. Mice don't live too long. Elephants & whales live pretty long.

Cyclist with resting heart rate of 60bpm

20 hours of 60bpm = 1200 beats
4 hour ride with average HR of 150bpm = 600 beats
Total for day = 1800 beats

Couch Potato with resting heart rate of 90bpm
24 hours x 90bpm = 2160 beats

I think 20 hours of 60 bpm average would yield:

20hr x 60 min/hr x 60 bpm = 72,000 total beats
4hr x 60 min/hr x 150 bpm = 36,000 total beats
Total = 108,000

Couch Potato 24hrs x 60 min/hr x 90 bpm = 129,600 total beats


I'll take my chances with the training regimen, TUVM.:D
I make this distinction not to be a smart a$$, but to point out how exercise can add years - that is, if one considers 1.5 Billion beats average in a lifetime.

Mike in AR:beer:

[Volant]

I went in to donate blood once. I had to sit a while until they got to me and then they gave me that little physical. I had almost fallen asleep by the time the gal took my pulse: 38. She said I couldn't donate. My pulse was too low. I moved around a bit and got it up to 48. They still wouldn't let me donate and sent me on my way.
I was like, ***?

[WadePatton]

My pressure runs lowish. I gave once and promptly fell out when I got to the "cookie room".

Haven't checked resting rate lately but do recall that a buddy--who isn't riding much, has a lower resting rate than mine. Genetics methinks.

But I never thought about lower resting rate reducing lifetime reps. I don't subscribe to the "finite beats" theory anyhoo.

I'm going to ride and enjoy.

[L84dinr]

back in june '04 i had a svt attack in the wee hours of the morning. My heart was double tripping around 200 bpm. Since then on occasion my heart will trip and start beating the crap outta my chest. The doc gave me some pills to take but the dadgum things turn me into a zombie. At the time my resting heart rate was around 46 in the morning; so the Doc was careful on what kinda drugs to give me in order too slow my ticker down.

I state all this to say that if the theory of pre-numbered heart beats to each of us... Then i am truly using mine up the last couple of years!

Live fast, die hard! lol

[soulspinner]

back in june '04 i had a svt attack in the wee hours of the morning. My heart was double tripping around 200 bpm. Since then on occasion my heart will trip and start beating the crap outta my chest. The doc gave me some pills to take but the dadgum things turn me into a zombie. At the time my resting heart rate was around 46 in the morning; so the Doc was careful on what kinda drugs to give me in order too slow my ticker down.

I state all this to say that if the theory of pre-numbered heart beats to each of us... Then i am truly using mine up the last couple of years!

Live fast, die hard! lol

I have svts, pacs and pvcs, but my doc wont put me on anything because they dont last very long, and my resting is 40-42 in the summer and 44-46 in the winter. The svts scare the heck out of me but never last more than a minute or so...is there any drug that works for arrythmias that doesnt make one tired?