• Question: The human body has always confused me. If we have been given a heart to keep us alive why does it suddenly just stop?

    Asked by Bizarretweed to Samantha, Paul, Glafkos, Clare on 10 Mar 2015.
    • Photo: Clare Devery

      Clare Devery answered on 10 Mar 2015:

      Most of the time when a heart suddenly stops, it happens as a result of coronary heart disease (CHD).

      CHD is a condition in which a waxy plaque builds up inside of the arteries that supply oxygen-rich blood to your heart. This is generally as a result of bad diet/ smoking/ high cholesterol etc. (Kind of like how if you don’t brush your teeth plaque builds up on them, if you don’t eat right plaque will build up in your arteries.)

      Eventually, an area of plaque can break open inside an artery, causing a blood clot to form. If the clot becomes large enough, it can block blood flow through an artery.

      If the blockage isn’t treated quickly, the portion of heart muscle fed by the artery begins to die. This puts strain on the heart and can cause it to stop.

      We have been given a heart to keep us alive, but we have to do our part to take care of it so that it can keep going!

    • Photo: Paul Booker

      Paul Booker answered on 10 Mar 2015:

      Nobody gave us a heart, it’s an organ that’s evolved over millions of years as an effective way to pump blood! If you think about the number of people and the number of heartbeats that happen all the time, then the fraction of times it goes wrong is quite small, certainly it’s much better than pumps humans make for machines. Unfortunately when it does go wrong it can be serious, but if we look after our hearts by not smoking, eating healthily and exercising frequently then you can minimise the risk of things going wrong.

    • Photo: Samantha Terry

      Samantha Terry answered on 10 Mar 2015:

      The heart is know as being the body’s hardest working muscle. If you think about most things in life, things deteriorate because they cannot regenerate. The liver cells and gut cells for example proliferate constantly but even they have an internal clock that tells them that their time is up. Not having this internal clock is basically the premise for cancer..

    • Photo: Glafkos Havariyoun

      Glafkos Havariyoun answered on 10 Mar 2015:

      The heart is just any other organ of the body. It has a function and at one point something may go wrong whether internally or externally. It can be affected directly or indirectly!

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