爱华网
What your heart looks like
Your heart is about the same size as a pear. It sitsbehind your sternum (which is the bone between the two sides ofyour ribs) and your ribs on the left side of your body just next toyour sternum.
It has four parts, the left ventricle and the right ventriclewhich are both at the bottom of the heart, and the left atrium andthe right atrium at the top. A wall of muscle called the septumseparates them.
The heart is two pumps joined together.
-
What does your heart do for you
The walls of the heart are made of really strong muscles thatsqueeze and relax to pump blood around the body.
It does this about 90 times a minute if you’re a child and 70times a minute if you are an adult.
Blood is pushed from the atrium into the ventricle on each sideof the heart.
Between them, small valves open and shut with each heartbeat sothe blood can only flow in one direction.
The left side of the heart gets the blood from the lungs whereit has collected oxygen, and pushes it all round the body throughthe arteries and the tiny blood vessels called capillaries. Thisblood is a bright red color.
The right side of the heart gets the blood after it has takenoxygen round the body and sends it back to the lungs for some moreoxygen. This blood is carrying carbon dioxide, which gets breathedout when it reaches the lungs. This blood looks a darker redcolor.
So the main job of the heart is to pump blood to every part ofthe body. The blood carries oxygen and all the food, vitamins andminerals that your body needs to move, think, grow and repairitself. At the same time the blood picks up stuffthat your body doesn’t need and takes it to those parts of yourbody that get rid of waste (your lungs, kidneys and liver).
Your blood is pumped all around your body and gets back to yourheart in about a minute.
You cannot live without your blood. If theheart and blood vessels don't pump properly, you can getsick and have one of the following heart disease.
Heart diseases can lead to heart attacks and loss oflife. Your heart specialistdoctors (cardiologists)-- can perform a series of tests to check yourheart. Achest x-ray shows if the heart isenlarged, an electrocardiogram (EKG) checks the heartrhythm, and an echocardiogram (anultrasound) looks at the heart’s structure and function. If you'refour or older, you may also have to do an exercise stress test toevaluate your heart and lungs.
