Everywhere I go these last couple weeks I've seen pink heart decorations. Sometimes it's difficult to remember that the human heart is really not very pretty. It's kind of ugly actually.
Here are some interesting facts about our hearts:
* The heart is fatigue resistant
* It contracts about 70 times a minute, 100,000 times a day and that's about two and a half billion times a lifetime
* It pumps between 70 ml and 100 ml of blood each beat
* It pumps blood to the lungs, back to the heart, out to the body and back to the heart again in about 23 seconds.
* It is the very first organ to begin functioning during embryonic life
* Blood rushes through your arteries with enough pressure to lift a column of blood five feet into the air.
* The human heart creates enough pressure when it pumps out to your body to squirt blood 30 feet.
So even though it's not exactly a pretty organ, it's still pretty damn amazing. This year, I vowed to exercise more and eat more raw vegetables. That's what I'm doing for my ugly ol' heart. What do you do for yours?
9 comments:
Does watching, reading, and writing love stories count?
I'm with you on the exercise and veggies. And yikes, hearts really aren't so pretty...
I'm shooting for more fish and organic products in our diet. And red wine. ;-)
The human body never ceases to amaze me, though I take it for granted daily.
Great post.
Therese, writing (and reading) a good love story can get the blood pumping so I'm sure it counts!
Anissa, I love to eat fish. Wish I could get my kids to agree. Oh and next to coffee, red wine is my favorite beverage *yum*
Wendy,
My three-year-old chows it down...with ketchup. Turns my stomach every time, but at least it's getting in there.
I hated fish growing up. I think it was seeing it alive first (we were a big fishing family). Tartar sauce saved me as a youngun.
Anissa, I have memories of my mother feeding us fish cakes that tasted like guts and sawdust. Yes, I used ketchup on those, it was self-defence! Was your family involved in fishing for livelihood or sport?
If it's battered fish I _must_ have tartar sauce but I usually prefer my filets with a bit of lemon.
Oh, just as a sport. I always wanted to let the fish go, but my dad insisted on eating them. To this day I won't eat trout. Too many encounters with bones. Something about a bone in my mouth used to freak me out.
I agree, I prefer lemon over tartar sauce now.
Funny story. One spring break we caught a small mouth bass on the first day. My dad put him on the stringer through his chin (yes *him*) so as not to damage the gills. This was his first mistake. Allowing us to name him was his second.
I took Norman on walks for the rest of the week. Wading through the water with my fish on a stringer. When it was time to go at the end of the week, Norman swam free. I like to believe Norman is still out there. He'd be like 100 pounds by now! My poor dad.
LOL! Oh Anissa, that is such a sweet story. I can totally picture you wading through the water with your fish!
I really enjoy fishing and can even clean a fish myself but the stringing up thing gives me the creeps *shudder*
I just remembered. His name was Herman. Good 'ole Herman. Biggest small-mouth I've ever seen.
You're better than me. My sister cleans fish, I refuse. I have ick issues. I'm with you on the stringing. We use a basket now. Not that I've fished in ages. My oldest is getting interested though. So soon.
Herman the biggest small-mouth LOL. There's gotta be a children's book in there!
I've got 4 kids, 3 of 'em are boys who all love to fish. I've learned to filet out of necessity.
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