The Human Heart.
The heart is the most important organ of the body and can only be described as a miracle creation, considering that the heart beats (contracts and relaxes) about 72 times per minute continuously, 24×7, for all the years that you live, by generating its own electric impulse. Arming yourself with some heart information and fascinating facts about heart will only help.
The human heart is located in the center of the chest and forms the “epicenter” of the circulatory system feeding all the parts of the body with blood containing oxygen (taken from the lungs) and nutrition (taken from the digestive system). It also receives blood containing carbon dioxide and impurities from the different parts of the body and pumps it for excretion of CO2 and impurities through lungs, skin and kidneys.
The Heart Beat.
The heart beats at the same rhythm and in the same sequence and fashion. In an average lifetime, the heart beats more than 2.5 billion to 3 billion times without a pause. At each beat, the heart chambers are filled with fresh blood.
At each beat, the heart pumps 60 to 90 ml of blood
The beating of the heart has a sequence with both the atria (upper chambers) contracting together followed by the contraction of both the ventricles (lower chambers). The heart beats on account of a specialized muscle called the cardiac muscle or myocardium of which the wall of the heart is made of. This is an involuntary muscle which beats on its own and under control of the brain. As the beating of the heart is an involuntary action, you have no control over it.
Chambers of the Heart.
Read full note on chambers of the heart
The heart is divided into the left side and the right side by a septum called the inter atrioventricular septum which is made up of connective tissue. Each of these left and right side is again divided by intervening valves, called atrioventricular valves, into the upper chamber and lower chamber. We therefore have the four chambers of the heart:-
- The upper left chamber called the left atrium into which the pulmonary veins empty.
- The upper right chamber called the right atrium into which the superior and the inferior vena cava empty.
- The lower left chamber called the left ventricle from which aorta starts.
- The right lower chamber called the right ventricle from which the pulmonary artery originates.
Heart Picture.
Click on picture to enlarge)
Borders of the Heart.
The heart has three borders which are formed as follows:
- Right border of the heart formed by the right atrium.
- Inferior border of the heart formed by the right atrium, the right ventricle and the left ventricle.
- Left border of the heart formed by the left ventricle.
To know how blood flows through the heart, read sequence of blood flow through the heart.
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