The heart is the most important organ in the human body. We can’t live without it. This complex and important pump has a very important job of circulating blood through the blood vessels to the body. Located in the center of the chest, it is by far the hardest working muscle in the human body. You rely on your heart to work 24 hours a day, even when you are sleeping.
This complex organ and blood vessels together make up your body’s cardiovascular system and are extremely vital to supplying the body with the necessary oxygen and nutrients needed to survive. The heart pumps blood to the lungs to pick up oxygen, and then it pumps blood through the body to deliver that oxygen.
How Your Heart Is Structured
The hear is a two-sided pump made up of four chambers. The two upper chambers are the Atria and the two lower chambers are the Ventricles.
1) The right side of the heart, the right Atrium and right Ventricle both work together to pump oxygen-poor blood returning from the body back to the lungs to be re-oxygenated.
2) The left side of the heart, the left Atrium and right Ventricle both work together to pump oxygenated blood back through the body.
There are muscular walls called Septa that divide the heart into the two sides to keep the two kinds of blood from mixing.
Your Heart Valves
The four valves within the heart, each have flaps that prevent blood from flowing in the wrong direction. These flaps also open to allow the forward flow of blood and the alternate motion, close to prevent any backward flow.
The Controls
A heartbeat is caused by an electrical impulse traveling through the heart. Your heart’s has a built-in electrical system that controls the speed of its pumping. This electrical impulse originates in the sinus node which functions as the heart’s natural pacemaker. Your sinus node is located in the top of the right Atrium. Your hearts electrical signals travel through the heart tissue causing the contraction and relaxation of the Atria and Ventricles which causes blood to be pumped to the body.
