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Calcium does this by flowing in and out of your heart cells after being triggered by an electrical signal from the sinoatrial node, or the heart's natural pacemaker.—Sara Hoffman, Verywell Health, 6 May 2026 The heart’s pulse rate can be higher than this number if the sinoatrial node initiates a heartbeat naturally.—Virginia Singla, Discover Magazine, 15 Dec. 2023
: a small mass of tissue that is made up of Purkinje fibers, ganglion cells, and nerve fibers, that is embedded in the musculature of the right atrium of higher vertebrates, and that originates the impulses stimulating the heartbeat