How long can you live after you're heart dies.?
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Answers:
That's a complex question, because in order to make it easier to understand, you need to have a firm grasp on several things.
First off, the heart is a muscle. It's composed of many things, small blood vessels, and a protective enclosure (pericardium), but the majority of the heart is composed of myocardium (heart muscle).
The way it functions is unique, and is unlike any other organ in the body. Your heart beats (contracts) due to electrical stimulation that originates from a complex electrical system, as well as cells distributed throughout the heart. When most people think of the heart "dying" they're referring to the lack of a perfusing (causing blood to flow) rythm. When that happens, there can be several causes.
The most common form of cardiac arrest is called Ventricular Fibrillation, or Ventricular Tachycardia which is where the heart is either doing something which resembles seizing, or beating so fast it is unable to let blood in to pump it. In these situations, you are clinically dead, as your body process starts to shut down.
But as for the heart muscle itself dying, that generally happens several minutes after you are dead. The heart can even continue beating for a few minutes after the rest of your body has shut down. It is truly the strongest, and most remarkable part of your body.
as soon as your heart dies, you die.
As soon as blood stops being pumped everything starts to shut down.
Can you be brought back? yea, sometimes. But are you clinically dead? yes.
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