How The Heart Works

Believe it or not, the strongest muscle in your body is your heart. This hard working organ pumps blood to your brain, nerve and bone cells, and all of the millions of other cells in your body night and day your whole life, without a break. On an average day, your heart beats about 100,000 times and pumps 2,000 gallons of blood! Understanding the basic anatomy and functioning of the heart helps to appreciate the importance of taking care of this vital organ.

For such a strong muscle with such a large task, your heart isn't all that big. If you make a fist with one hand and wrap your other hand around it, you'll get a pretty good idea of your heart's size and shape.

The heart has four chambers. The upper two are the atria, which serve as filling chambers. The lower two are the ventricles, which pump the blood out to the body. The right atrium collects blood that has circulated through the body and pushes it into the right ventricle, which pumps this blood through the pulmonary artery to the lungs. There, the blood dumps carbon dioxide, a waste gas, and picks up oxygen. The blood then flows through the pulmonary veins back to the heart, where it collects in the left atrium. From there the blood is pushed into the left ventricle, which pumps it through the aorta, the body’s main blood vessel, to bring oxygen and other nutrients to the rest of the body. Four valves -- the tricuspid, pulmonary, mitral and aortic -- regulate blood flow into and out of the heart. The valves open and snap shut, ensuring that blood doesn't return to the chamber from which it has just come. 

 

Medications

Some medications can interfere with the heart's function, cardiac procedures or your ability to heal. 

Please discuss what medications, including herbal remedies, you are taking with your doctor.

​

​