Curl up your fingers in a clenched fist and place the fist near the top slight-left region of your chest. Do you know where your hand is placed? This is where your heart is located, and the size of the clenched fist is that of our heart. Nobody can deny the importance of our great muscular pump. The heart’s anatomy enables it to work efficiently and tirelessly. Therefore, we will discuss our heart’s basic structure and how it helps our heart carry out its daily chores.
The Division:
A muscular wall, known as the median septum, separates the right part of our heart from the left one. Why the separation, you may ask? This is because the heart’s right portion deals with the blood deficient in oxygen, and the left one deals with oxygen-rich blood. Thus, to stop mixing the blood, a wall is necessary as our body cells won’t appreciate the blend.
The Four Chambers:
Now, the heart is further divided into four chambers. Two in the upper part of the heart and two in the lower portion. Now, why do such divisions and sections in the heart’s anatomy make a powerful pump? The answer lies in the division of labor amongst the sections.
The Division of Labour:
The upper two chambers of the heart are known as atria ( singular: atrium). Thus, the job description of the two atria involves receiving blood from the body when relaxed. Plus, when atria contract, the blood rushes out into the lower chamber of the heart.
After gushing out of the atria, blood enters two more chambers, ventricles. Ventricles pump blood to the rest of the body. These two chambers are built according to their task, and the left ventricle is sturdier than the right one.
Blood’s Traffic Routes and Its Destination:
From our previous discussion, there are some questions still left dangling. Hence, let’s try to fill in the picture with tad more details. Therefore, let’s learn more about oxygenated and deoxygenated blood and its routes. Deoxygenated blood incoming from various locations of the body collect into the right atrium. Afterward, the atrium pumps the blood into the ventricle that in turn pumps blood towards the lung.
After the lungs work their magic and add the body’s old ally oxygen in the blood, the oxygen-rich blood enters the left atrium. Then the atrium performs its job. Subsequently, the well-built left ventricle pumps the oxygen-rich blood to other parts of the body. With such a hefty strength, the left ventricle pumps blood conclusively even to the body’s extremities, such as fingertips.
Conclusion:
All the functions described above co-occur, with coordination in between the heart’s chambers being the key. Therefore, a slight miss can lead your heart into disarray. Thus, the chaos brings inefficiency that disrupts your typical day to day life.
One such disorder, known as atrial fibrillation, causes atria to do their own thing and beat out of sync. However, you don’t need to fret about it because the Atrial Fibrillation Center Of America has you covered. Call us at 832-478-5067 for future inquiries.