Health and Safety
Heart
Did you know that your heart is really a muscle? The heart pumps blood all over your body and the blood carries oxygen and nutrients to your body. It also carries away waste like the carbon dioxide. Our heart is one amazing body part. Without it, you wouldn't be able to live!
Your heart is about the size of your fist and located in your chest area. Your heart is sort of like a pump, or two pumps in one. The right side of your heart receives blood from the body and pumps it to the lungs. The left side of the heart does the opposite: it receives blood from the lungs and pumps it out to the body. By the time you are an adult, your heart pumps or beats about 70 times a minute. That's a lot of pumping power, isn't it? Did you know that your blood can circulate throughout your body in less than one minute? That is really fast!
If we measured all of the blood that our hearts pumps throughout our body each week, we could fill a medium-sized swimming pool. Our heart is one tough worker!
When your doctor listens to your heart, he hears a "lub-dub" sound with each beat. This is not due to the beating of your heart. The "lub-dub" sounds are caused by the closing of your heart values, allowing the blood to flow to your body or your lungs. (its' like a door opening and closing)
Our heart is such an important part of us that we need to take care of it. Remember, your heart is a muscle. Just like you need to exercise your other muscles, you need to exercise your heart too to keep it in good shape. Exercise at least 20 minutes each day to keep it strong. Eating healthy foods and not smoking will also keep your heart healthy.
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