by Char Brar

Created on: May 07, 2009

The size of the fist of you hand, your heart pumps 24 hours a day non-stop to feed your body. Hence it is one of the most vital organs in your body. There are lots of stories and poems that connect heart to emotions, however, it has nothing to do with your emotions at all. Simply speaking your heart is a pump, and it pumps the blood to your body and itself.

Heart is basically divided into 2 sides- the right heart and the left heart. The right heart gets the dirty blood (oxygen depleted) from the body and pumps it to the lungs for cleaning. The left side of the heart takes the clean (oxygen enriched) blood from the lungs and pumps it out to the body and itself.

There are 4 chambers in your heart two for each side of the heart. The right heart has right atrium and right ventricle while the left side has a left atrium and left ventricle. The atria and the ventricles are separated by valves (doors) that open and close in response to pressure within the chambers. The right heart door is called the tricuspid valve (valve has three leaflets) and mitral valve. When the blood comes into the atria, the valves between the atria and the ventricles are closed. The valves remain closed until the atria become so filled that they exert pressure on the valves to push them open so that the blood can now flow from the atria into the ventricles. Initially the blood flows passively into the ventricles, and then remaining blood is actively squeezed into the ventricles by the atrial kick, and after that the valvular doors shut close.

Now the blood goes from the ventricles into the pulmonary circulation via pulmonary artery. The valve (door) from the venrticle to the pulmonary artery is called pulmonic valve, and similar door from left ventricle to the aorta (blood vessel leading to the body) is called the aortic valve and they also close and open to the pressure dynamics just like the tricuspid valve and mitral valve.

The atria are like reservoirs of the heart, while ventricles are the main pumps that pump the blood out of the heart to the lungs and body, respectively. The right heart is a low pressure system because it pumps blood to the pulmonary system, which is a low pressure system. The left heart is a high pressure system, since it pumps blood to all the body and itself. Heart feeds itself only when it rests (diastole), and feeds rest of the body by contracting or pumping (systole).

Normally the heart beats at 60 to 100 times per minute, except in athletes where it

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>