The heart helps nourish every cell and tissue in the body.
About 100,000 times a day, at precisely timed intervals, a small electrical charge races from one end of your heart to the other. In response, the heart muscles spasm and squeeze blood from one chamber to the next. Between chambers, delicate valves part their cusps to make a passageway and then close tightly to ensure that the blood only moves in one direction.
This continuous pumping provides an endless supply of oxygen and nutrients to every cell and tissue in the human body. The blood carries this cargo out to the far ends of the body, picks up waste products, and then returns to the heart.
To learn more about the heart's structure and function, visit our interactive guide to the heart by clicking on the link below.
(Note that the guide will open in a new window.)
CLICK HERE
