everything has 1 billion heartbeats

[mollykins]

According to the royal institute christmas lecture last night, every living organism with a heart, has about 1 billion heartbeats before it stops working, of course many people and other creatures die before they reach that due to other things.

But how would you work out how long an average human heart lasts? He didn't say if this was worked out using an english or american billion and what is the average human heart beats per minute count? I've tried using all kinds of combinations but the only number over about 40 i've been able to make was i think 290ish . . .!!!! which can't be right.

[spud-u-like]

http://wiki.answers.c...rt_beat_in_a_lifetime

http://wiki.answers.c..._beats_how_many_times

[bobjugs12]

AVerage adult should have a pulse rate of between 60-100bpm (depending on age, fitness, size, etc etc etc).
Do you want the average pulse rates for kids as well?

[mollykins]

Spud, how come the guy said an average of 1 billion then?

Bob, average throughout a lifetime, for an average person . . .

[Lisalips]

Mollykins I remember reading or hearing something once about the possibility that hearts are programmed by the brain with a certain number and will stop after that but I fail to see how this is possible myself but interesting theory to maybe bring up at the pub or bar.

[mollykins]

But if it was more like 2billion then the numbers I used to get 40 would be right then, if i just doubled it.

[mollykins]

I don't think it's necessarily that lisa more like the principles of something like a car tyre, after so many miles the tred is shredded to pieces and it just doesn't work any more as it's too worn out . . . .

[spud-u-like]

1 billion seems a bit low worked out on these calculations, molly.

He wasnt Mr Spock was he? lol

[jake-the-peg]

These are rather large generalisations to show a trend.

When comparing this across a huge range of creatures if you get an error of two or three hundred percent here or there it doesn't detract from the general principle.

Especialy when you're talking about humans who are a special case in all sorts of ways.

The principle is that there is a correlation between heart rate and longevity.

[squarebear]

An average of a billion Molly not a bilion to the exact number. One might have 0 hearbeats and something else might have 2 billion. This will average out at 1 billion.

The average lifespane for a human is around 80 years.

[grasscarp]

So if you go to the gym and exercise and speed up your heart rate you are getting closer to using up your billion?

[ChuckFickens]

Whenever I've heard that figure quoted it's always been followed by an exception for humans as we have extended out lifespan to way over what it would have been in our early development.

[New Judge]

The theory fails with relation to humans.

Assuming 70 beats per minute an 80 year old heart will have beaten just under 3 billion (that's three thousand million) times.

It works quite well for dogs, though. There are about 7.8 million minutes in 15 years (a reasonable lifespan for a dog) and to achieve 1 billion beats the dog's heart will have to beat at a bit over 120 times a minute, which I believe is about right for the "average" dog.

I really must try to get out more !

[jd_1984]

I'm with grasscarp, you go to the gym to excercise. Cardio will increase your heart rate which has be proven to keep heart and body healthy. So this theory (alone) puts marathon runners dead before couch potatoes!

[ChuckFickens]

New judge, If you recalculate and take the average human life span as about 35-40 years and a lower resting heart rate (both of which are more likely to apply to early humans) it will work out close to 1 billion.

We, as humans, are the only life form that has a significantly longer lifespan now when compared to a couple of hundred thousand years ago.

[mollykins]

Exercise may increase your heatrate at the time but lowers it in general so on average a healthy person has a lower heart rate.

[jd_1984]

I find it hard to believe that a person who trains everyday and raises their heart rate to say 160 BPM for a period of an hour will then have a lower resting heart rate that will balance out this billion hertbeat theory.
I think it is a very general theory open to many different factors.
I heard from somebody at the gym that your maximum heart rate when excercising should be 220 BPM minus your age - anyone heard that one before?

[mollykins]

I believe your last sentence to be true. But google the other bit and you'll find that they all agree with me. If you want, measure your own heart rate and compare it to someone who you know is obviously (less) fitter than you . . . .

[mollykins]

I've worked out a way to explain it, in simple terms.

The heart is a muscle. The more you exercise any muscle, the stronger it becomes. The stronger a muscle becomes, the further it can move blood at once. The further the blood can be pushed in one go, the less times it needs to pump, to get the blood all the way around your body.

[society]

You're a genius!