How much blood does your heart move?
Your heart moves about five litres a minute at rest — your entire blood volume, every minute.
1.04 × one day
7,500 L is more than 3 of the 6 references on this page.
Reference figures are measurements and are rounded; the unit conversion behind them is exact.
| Reference | Size | Yours ÷ theirs | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| one minute | 5 L | 1,500× | |
| one hour | 300 L | 25× | |
| one day | 7,200 L | 1.04× | |
| an Olympic swimming pool | 2,500,000 L | 1/333 | |
| one year | 2,628,000 L | 1/350 | |
| a whole life | 192,000,000 L | 1/25,600 | About 77 Olympic pools |
Worth knowing
- At rest the heart pumps five litres a minute, which is the whole blood volume. During hard exercise it reaches 25 litres a minute.
- Over 73 years that adds up to about 192 million litres — 77 Olympic swimming pools.
Frequently asked
What is cardiac output?
The volume the heart pumps per minute: stroke volume times heart rate. About 5 litres at rest, rising fivefold at maximum effort in a trained athlete.
How long does blood take to circulate?
About one minute at rest for a full circuit. From the heart to the toes and back is roughly 20 seconds.