How much does a heart weigh? This is an interesting question that you may have asked yourself a couple of times. Is the heavy weight on your chest the weight of your heart?
You have to know the answer to these questions since the answers are related to your health and well-being.
In this post, I will answer this critical question. But before I do that, let’s have a little background about the heart and its functions.
What is The Heart?
The heart is a muscular organ, the size of your fist, which is located at the center of the upper quadrant of your chest between your left and right lungs. It’s slightly positioned to the left (2/3 of it) under the thoracic cavity in the mediastinum.
The heart has these 4 hollow chambers:
- Left and right ventricles (lower chambers)
- Left and right atria (upper chambers)
Below is a more detailed anatomy of the human heart.
Functions of The Heart and The Cardiovascular System
The heart is the major organ of the cardiovascular system. Its primary function is to pump blood into the different parts of the body to nourish cells and oxygenate them. The blood helps in excreting waste products of metabolism as well.
Blood transports most of these toxic substances to the excretory organs, so that they can be eliminated from the body. If these waste products are not eliminated, they could poison the body and cause coma and death.
The cardiovascular system also involves the blood cells. These blood cells, specifically Red Blood Cells (RBC), are the transport carriers of essential nutrients and oxygen that the body needs for growth and development.
The other blood cells are thrombocytes (platelets) and White Blood Cells (WBC) or leukocytes.
Thrombocytes are involved in blood clotting, while leukocytes assist in the immune system (defense mechanism) of the body.
Blood travels from the heart to the body through blood vessels (arteries and veins). Arteries carry oxygenated blood to the various parts of the body, while veins carry non-oxygenated blood from the body to the heart.
The veins also are responsible in disposing waste products from the body, while the arteries bring oxygen to the body tissues, organs and cells.
The non-oxygenated blood is oxygenated by the lungs and goes back to the heart for distribution through the arteries. Take note that the body needs oxygen for its physiological processes, whereas, carbon dioxide is excreted.
The heart has several layers, namely: pericardium, epicardium, myocardium and endocardium.
Watch how the heart works inside your body in the video below:
For more of the circulatory or cardiovascular system, watch the video below:
Now that you have the basic background, let’s now answer the question:
How Much does A Heart Weigh?
The normal heart weighs around 227 to 312 grams, or 8 to 11 ounces, or 0.50 to 0.69 pounds.
The normal male heart weighs slightly heavier than a female’s heart due to the smaller size of the female’s.
- Female = 8 to 9 ounces; 226.8 to 255.2 grams; 050 to 0.56 pounds
- Male = 10 to 11 ounces; 283.5 to 311.8 grams; 0.63 to 0.69 pounds
Anatomically, the bones and muscles of men are bigger than that of women. This goes too with the heart; men’s hearts are larger than women’s hearts; thus, they are heavier.
One amazing truth about the weight of the heart is that, although there’s a difference between men and women, it doesn’t affect the heart’s physiological function. It continues to pump blood without stopping. It never grows tired.
The heart pumps blood around 100,000 times a day, no matter what its weight. Reportedly, the heart can continue beating even if it’s taken out of your body – for as long as oxygen is supplied. That’s truly amazing, don’t you think so?
Conclusion
How much does a heart weigh? The question is answered in detail in this post. To remember the fact more quickly. You can visualize your heart as the size of your fist. However, the weight of your fist is, understandably, lighter because of the presence of a copious amount of blood in the heart.
When there is heart enlargement, it can indicate a heart disease. So, if your heart weighs heavier than normal, you should visit your doctor. It can be a symptom of an underlying disease. If not, then that’s great. Prevention is always better than cure.
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