Hearts are not just for Valentine’s Day

Today February 14^th, is Valentine’s Day, a day traditionally filled with hearts and flowers but remember, hearts are not just for Valentine’s Day. It’s vital that you do your best to care for your heart each and every day.

Here are some fascinating facts about your heart to make you love it even more this Valentine’s Day.

• Your heart is about the size of your fist and is located slightly to the left of the centre of your chest.
• Your heart’s main job is to pump blood through your blood vessels (arteries and veins) to all parts of your body, delivering oxygen and nutrients and carrying away unwanted waste products.
• Your heart can beat up to 100,000 times a day, continuously pumping and circulating about five litres of blood around your body.
• Your heart pumps blood to every single cell in your body except for the corneas in your eyes, which, unlike all other tissues in the body, have no blood supply.
• Heart rate and rhythm are the ways the heart works to make heartbeats.
• Heart rate is the number of heartbeats in one minute. The normal heart rate is between 60 and 100 beats in one minute, although each person’s heart rate is slightly different.
• Heart rhythm is how regular the pattern of your heartbeat is. Normal regular heart rhythm is known as sinus rhythm.
• The first Irish heart transplant was performed on the 10^th of September 1985; since then, hundreds of heart transplants have taken place, with ten such operations performed in 2022.
• Approximately 2 million people are at risk of or living with the long-term impacts of heart disease or stroke
• The Irish Heart Foundation is committed to caring for each and every heart affected by cardiovascular disease.

For more information and advice on ways to love your heart, please see here 

Behind every story, there is a heart. Please help us to make more stories, more moments with loved ones…..Will you donate today to keep more hearts beating?