Pretty Cool - It's My Pulse!
Even though your heart is inside you, there is a cool way to know it's working from the outside by feeling your pulse! You can find your pulse by lightly pressing on the skin anywhere there's a large artery running just beneath your skin. Two good places to find it are on the side of your neck and the inside of your wrist, just below the thumb.

You'll know that you've found your pulse when you can feel a small beat under your skin. Each beat is caused by the contraction (squeezing) of your heart. If you want to find out what your heart rate is, use a watch with a second hand and count how many beats you feel in 1 minute. When you are resting, you will probably feel between 70 and 100 beats per minute.

When you run around a lot, your body needs a lot more oxygen-filled blood. Your heart pumps faster to supply the oxygen-filled blood that your body needs. You may even feel your heart pounding in your chest. Try running in place or jumping rope for a few minutes and taking your pulse again - now how many beats do you count in 1 minute?

Keep Your Heart Happy
Most kids are born with a healthy heart and it's important to keep yours in good shape. Here are some things that you can do to help keep your heart happy:

• Remember that your heart is a muscle. Just like you need to exercise your leg and arm muscles, you need to exercise your heart, too. Aerobic exercise, like walking, running, and swimming, is a great way to keep your heart in shape. Try to be active every day! 
• Eating a variety of healthy foods is great for your heart. Avoiding a lot of high-fat foods will help keep your heart happy, too.
• Stay away from smoking! Smoking is bad for every part of your body, and especially your heart. Your heart and blood vessels hate cigarettes because smoking makes their jobs much harder and can damage them.

So now you know that your heart doesn't look like a valentine, but it sure is an amazing body part. It started pumping blood before you were born, and will continue pumping throughout your whole life. So take good care of your heart and it will take good care of you!

Reviewed and updated by: Terrence U. H. Chun, MD
Date reviewed: September 2003
Originally reviewed by: Lisa B. Zaoutis, MD

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