The heart is a powerful pump-like organ that has four chambers. Located in the chest, just to the left of center betweens the lungs, the heart pumps blood through the body continuously. This pumping action circulates the blood through an amazing circulatory system, moving away from the heart through arteries and back to the heart through the veins. The heart will beat over 100,000 times every single day. That is roughly 35 million times in a year. During this time, the body\’s hardest working organ will circulate your 5.6 liters of blood through your body about three times every minute, providing a fresh supply of oxygen and nutrients while eliminating waste.

In A Heartbeat

The Cardiac Cycle is the contraction and relaxation of the heart during a single pump, or heartbeat. Repeating continuously, the cardiac cycle takes place in about four fifths of a second, during which time, the heart will contract, which pushes the blood out through the arteries and is called the systole. Then, the heart will relax filling the ventricles with blood from the veins. This is called the diastole. You can learn more about how to take care of the heart at HIPAA Training or The American Red Cross.

Amazing Teamwork

The heart acts like a double pump or two pumps, one beside the other. Think of the lungs as the pit stop of a race in which a single heartbeat is the track. The right side of the heart pumps carbon dioxide rich blood through the lungs. During this pit stop, or half of a heartbeat, the blood is oxygenated or filled with oxygen. The left side of the heart, the second pump, receives this newly oxygenated, nutrient charged blood and pumps it out to the body. The entire process carries out in a single heartbeat and happens like this…

– During contraction, the right half of the heart accepts waste filled blood and pumps it into the lungs

– The lungs replace waste in the form of carbon Dioxide with nutrient enriched oxygen

– During relaxing, or the second half of a heartbeat, the left side of the heart sucks in the newly oxygenated blood

– During the next heartbeat, or contraction, the good blood is forced out of the left side and the right side begins anew

Language of the Heart

Blood flow is regulated through the heart by two sets of valves, the atrioventricular, or AV valves that prevent blood flow back into the atria during systole. (Contraction) The semilunar valves prevent backflow of blood into the ventricles. It is the operation of these valves that we hear in our chest through stethoscopes that makes the sound, lub-dub. The lub is mad by the AV valves closing, and the dub, of course, is made during diastole as the semilunar valves close.

More Amazing Heart Facts include

– Your six quarts of circulating blood will travel 12 thousand miles today
– In a lifetime, the heart will pump the equivalent of a million barrels of blood
– If you take care of your health, your amazing heart will beat approximately 2.5 billion times in your lifetime

Don\’t Go Breaking My Heart

You only get one heart so you have to take very good care of it. This means that you should eat healthy foods, keep your cholesterol under control, and get regular check-ups, exercise, and most important… Do Not Smoke! If you already smoke, quit. You are so worth it!

Author Bio: For more information please visit our CPR Recertification website.

Category: Wellness, Fitness and Diet
Keywords: Blood flow ,American Red Cross,HIPAA Training ,Heartbeat,oxygen,nutrients,CPR Recertification