Heart - The Body's Power plant

The human heart is an organ that is comprised of muscles. Simply defined, the heart is a pump which shuttles nutrient and hormone filled blood to all portions of the body.

An average of 72 times each minute the heart pumps approximately 2-4 tablespoons of fresh blood into our bodies.

Did you know that in the course of 70 years of life each human heart would pump 250,000 gallons of blood? [1]

Three main arteries of the body (Right Coronary Artery, Left Coronary Artery and Anterior Intraventricular Artery) act as the Interstate moving mass quantities of blood to the other arteries, veins and capillaries.

The heart actually acts as your body's main recycling center too. WorldInvisible.com indicates, "Used blood, that is blood that has already been to the cells and has given up its nutrients to them, is drawn from the body by the right half of the heart, and then sent to the lungs to be reoxygenated. Blood that has been reoxygenated by the lungs is drawn into the left side of the heart and then pumped into the blood stream. It is the atria that draw the blood from the lungs and body, and the ventricles that pump it to the lungs and body."

Blood that has already delivered hormonal messengers, oxygen and nutrients to all parts of your body is taken back through the heart, infused with a fresh supply of oxygen in the lungs and then rechanneled back through the bloodstream to keep the body healthy.

The American Heart Association reports, "The heart has four chambers. The upper two are the right and left atria — the lower two, the right and left ventricles. The heart also has four valves that open and close to let blood flow in only one direction when the heart contracts (beats)." [2]

The body is infused with chemical messengers form the Endocrine system, which can only be transported through the bloodstream. The body needs nutrients and oxygen that are supplied by the heart.

Heart disease and other risk factors diminish the capacity of this organ to perform its job effectively. Medical research has greatly aided in the advance of heart health as well as assisting in the long-term function of this vital organ.

The human body is dependent on an organ about the size of a fist to continuously supply what is needed for continued health, longevity of life and even consciousness. Some refer to this organ as 'simple', yet the heart has proven one of the most dependable and hardest working organs in our bodies. The variety of tasks the heart performs is complex, yet efficient.

If this was a discussion about fine automobiles and we were to admire the precision workings of the motor we might say an engineer designed the motor brilliantly. However in the context of evolutionary thought the term designed should never be used to describe the human body or any of its inner workings. Does that seem a bit peculiar?

Perhaps the human heart looks designed because it is designed.

[1] http://www.worldinvisible.com/apologet/humbody/heart.htm

[2] http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=34