This morning on NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday, Robert Krulwich reported on the Hidden Mathematics of Life.
According to Geoffrey West, a scientist and the president of the Santa Fe Institute,
Now Steve has a really low heart rate. So low, that when he was in the hospital two years ago, every nurse who took his pulse commented on how low his heart rate is. This in a place where there are a lot of world class athletes with low heart rates.
I have a really fast heart rate. So fast, that when I would take my heart rate during aerobic exercise, I would freak out my instructor because I was always way off the top of the charts, way outside of the 'acceptable range,' even though I felt fine. It seems it runs in my family. My brother's coach used to tell him he had a freakin' jackrabbit heart.
So, depending upon how you look at it, either I'm screwed because I'm going to use up my billion and half beats before Steve or he's screwed because he's going to outlive me and outlive his almost non-existent retirement funds.
According to Geoffrey West, a scientist and the president of the Santa Fe Institute,
on average . . . elephants and shrews and most of the critters in between have a limit of about a billion and a half heartbeats in a lifetime and then they die.
The reason an elephant lives longer than a shrew is not because its heart beats longer. It's because its heat beats slower. So it takes a few more years for the elephant to complete his or her up to one and a half billion beats.
Now Steve has a really low heart rate. So low, that when he was in the hospital two years ago, every nurse who took his pulse commented on how low his heart rate is. This in a place where there are a lot of world class athletes with low heart rates.
I have a really fast heart rate. So fast, that when I would take my heart rate during aerobic exercise, I would freak out my instructor because I was always way off the top of the charts, way outside of the 'acceptable range,' even though I felt fine. It seems it runs in my family. My brother's coach used to tell him he had a freakin' jackrabbit heart.
So, depending upon how you look at it, either I'm screwed because I'm going to use up my billion and half beats before Steve or he's screwed because he's going to outlive me and outlive his almost non-existent retirement funds.
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I always learn something when I come to Mountain Musings.
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