Blood delivers vital nutrients, oxygen, antibodies and many other resources all around the body but to get to their destination, the heart, a muscular organ pumps blood through the body. The heart is located between the lungs in the centre of the chest behind the sternum, though majority of the heart is located on the left side of the chest as that is the way it is shaped.
A regular heart beats 60-100 times a minute to effectively transport blood via the veins and arteries of the circulatory system. The heart has its own electrical system made up with the sinoatrial node (SA) node, the atrioventricular (AV) node, the left and right bundle branches and the purkinje fibers. The SA node sends an electrical pulse which first stimulates the left and right atriums of the heart, then the pulse is travelled down to the AV node where it is slowed down a fraction of a second before the pulse travels down through the bundle branches and through the purkinje fibers, to stimulate the right and left ventricles. Many problems can arise from having an abnormal beating heart, hence many cardiovascular health conditions related to irregular heartbeat.
Deoxygenated blood travels through the superior vena cava to the right atrium then the right ventricle through the tricuspid valve and heads out through the pulmonary valve out to the pulmonary artery to the lungs to be oxygenated. Oxygenated blood travels through the pulmonary veins into the left atrium, then into the left ventricle through the mitral valve and finally through the aortic valve into the aorta, to then be transported throughout the body.
The heart is an important organ, hence why, when someone has a cardiac arrest, CPR is commenced to act on behalf of the heart. People can not live long without the heart being active and therefore it is a vital organ to everybodies wellbeing.
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