• Question: @Cristina why does the heart not get tired

    Asked by Lclark to Cristina on 10 Nov 2015.
    • Photo: Cristina Villa del Campo

      Cristina Villa del Campo answered on 10 Nov 2015:

      Hi Lclark,

      So that is a tricky question. The heart doesn’t get tired on normal beating but it can certainly get tired/stressed, specially with age. Heart cells even when they are on their own (the ones I have in a dish in the lab) beat constantly, it is part of what they are. They are built with huge energetic machinery in the form of mitochondria to make sure they can pump away.
      Also the heart is amazing at reacting to what you need. Say you are in a stressing situation, your heart starts pounding very hard. That is because your body feels the stress and prepares you to run, which is what happens in nature (even if your situation is an exam for example, your body doesn’t know). This stresses the heart and with age it won’t be able to respond in the same way, so in its way, it does get tired.

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