Did you know that it takes only 60 seconds for blood to make one complete circuit of the body and reach every cell?

That’s pretty speedy considering the combined length of all the body’s blood vessels is equal to 4 times the earth’s circumference.  The blood has plenty of ground to cover!

The importance of blood is not up for debate. We’re dependent on our blood.  As it circulates the body it provides the body with the oxygen and nutrients it needs to survive and function, while also carrying away waste.

We could say that our blood gets ‘recycled’.  After zooming through our body, other organs (Eg. our kidneys) filter and clean the blood for another ‘lap around the track’!

It’s interesting to know that at any given time our body is holding between 10-12 pints of blood – that’s just over 1 gallon.

When we ‘donate’ blood, the nurses will typically take 1 pint of that.  Most people are said not to feel much difference having one less pint in them.  Those who do experience any degree of dizziness will have fully recovered within 24 hours, as much of the fluid in the blood will have been replaced.

Resources: Givelife2.org | Kidshealth.org | “The Odd Body” (Dr. Stephen Juan)

It is estimated that the human heart pumps with enough pressure that it could squirt blood a distance of 30 feet.

Human blood pressure is typically measured at about 120 mmHg (2.32 psi)

In contrast, the giraffe’s blood pressure is about 300 mmHg. (5.8 psi)

Why is the giraffe’s blood pressure over two times stronger than that of a human?

You may have guessed it –  It’s because of the location of the giraffe’s head.

While the human head sits about 1.5 feet above the heart, the giraffe’s head is perched 10 or more feet higher, requiring the extra force to pump blood to the brain.

So, if a giraffe’s blood pressure is twice as strong as that of a human, its heart should be able to launch blood twice as far…so maybe 60 feet? That said, if it weren’t for some special ‘blood regulating’ valves in its neck, the giraffe would incur serious brain damage anytime the head was lower than its heart. Eg. When dipping down for a drink.

Resources: The Odd Body (Dr. Stephen Juan) | eHow | www.abc.net.au – The Science Show

I’ll bet you did not know this…

Your heart pumps an incredible 2,000 Gallons of blood through your body everyday!

So, that’s around 100 bathtubs full. 

In my opinion, that isn’t even the most fascinating part…

Stop and consider this for a moment!

Any man-made device you have at home – be it a pump, fan or heater, is likely to breakdown if called-on to work non-stop for 10 or 20 years. 

The heart on the other hand, pumps constantly from birth until death, as fast or slow as required…when we’re awake or asleep, whether we think about it or not!

The real miracle?

As crucial as it is to us…it doesn’t need to be plugged-in or filled with gas and it doesn’t run on “Triple A” batteries.    

Source: University of Maryland Medical Center

If you took all the blood vessels out of an adult human being and put them in a line, the length of that line would be about 100,000miles.

That’s 4 X the circumference of the earth at the equator.    Pretty hard to believe, isn’t it!

Most of the blood vessels in the human body are very short in length.  They are in fact microscopic capillaries.

The reason it gets around the earth 4 X is because there are 40 billion of them….yep, Billion with  a “B”. (We’re talking the “American billion” – ie. 1,000,000,000 not the “British Billion” which is considered to be 1,000,000 X 1,000,000.)

But even that is hard to fathom.  How much is a “billion” anyway?

For some perspective:

• A billion seconds ago would take us back to the 1960s.
• A billion minutes ago people like Jesus would have been walking the earth.
• A billion hours ago our ancestors were rubbing sticks together in the stone-age.

Point being, a billion of anything adds up.

Sources: The Franklin Institute