2023-06-27 11:48:59
Surprising discovery on the pulse by French people © Adobe stock
Taking your pulse at the wrist and neck allows you to measure your heart rate. A team of researchers led by a Frenchman has made a surprising discovery about the pulse. We tell you more….
What is your heart rate?
The pulse indicates heart rate thanks to a wave caused by the dilation of the arteries under the influx of blood coming from the heart. A new study published in Science Advances advance a startling new thesis: arteries are not only dilated but also twisted under the influence of blood flow. This phenomenon then generates a second so-called “bending” wave which propagates much more slowly.
You have a second pulse
This second wave of flexion generates a second pulse, notes the French researcher Stefan Catheline of Inserm who piloted this study. This second pulse was discovered by chance. Indeed, the team of researchers worked on waves and ultrasound therapies. She was asked to test a tool that calculated the propagation speed of the pulse wave in the retina. It was on this occasion that Stefan Catheline detected a second pulse” next to a thousand times slower than the ordinary pulse,” describes the Inserm press release.
“It took us less than an afternoon to confirm the result”
“Following this discovery, the research team carried out new pulse measurements by echography (ultrasound) along the carotid artery of individuals and found the two waves, ”specifies Inserm. “It took us less than an afternoon to confirm result“, explains Stefan Catheline. If this second pulse has never been described before, it is quite simply because it was not sought after, adds the researcher.
What is the use of a second pulse?
« L’where from pouls principal is widely used in medicine and reflects cardiovascular health of an individual. Its speed of propagation depends in fact on the state of the walls of the arteries: the more they are flexible and young, the slower the speed and vice versa when aging,” underlines the press release from Inserm. Thus, this discovery may facilitate the assessment of the state of the arteries in the retina or the stiffness of the vein wall.
Source : Inserm, Press release
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