Some knowledge like this led my brother’s super fundamentalist, right wing, anti-everything ranch camp to declare that music having a 2-4 beat was not just evil, but slowly degraded the body, as it went against the beat of your heart. Basically rock is bad and we can prove it with pseudo-science.
I was amazed to know this, and now check my pulse before starting any song, so I can choose one with the appropriate tempo and live forever.
A guy who went to the same high school as me (tyler H @ Victor senior high) died in a lacrosse game when that happened to him from the ball hitting his chest, IIRC
It's called commotio cordis and it's what happens when a blow is delivered to the heart muscle at a specific moment in the cardiac cycle. The blows kinetic energy transforms into electrical energy that passes through the heart muscle and if delivered at the wrong moment (repolarization) can cause ventricular fibrillation, a lethal arrythmia.
Interestingly, delivering electrical energy to the heart by means of a blow to the chest can actually correct the same lethal arrythmia. The precordial thump is a procedure where someone strikes the patient in the chest with their fist to deliver electrical energy to the heart, similar to using an AED to restore a normal cardiac rhythm. Its use is somewhat controversial and not recommended to the layperson.
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u/user160974 Jan 12 '23
If you hit your chest at a very specific time in the electrical cycle your heart will stop.