GET TO KNOW YOUR HEART
Your heart is an
amazing muscle. It works 24 hours a day, pumping blood around
your body to help keep you alive.
Where is your heart? Do you think your heart is on the left side of
your body? A lot of people do but it's actually almost in the
centre of your chest, between your lungs, but it tilts to the
left.
How does it pump?
Your heart is actually a 'double pump' with four chambers.
The right-hand side pumps blood to the lungs for it to pick up
oxygen. The blood then goes back to the heart, and the left-hand
side pumps it out around your body. As the blood travels, it
becomes de-oxygenated.
Heart animations and video clips
Watch this video clip of how
your heart works.
Download the file
here (file size 3.22MB, you need Quicktime).
Heart facts
Your heart beats 100,000 times every day.
You have about 100,000km of blood vessels in your body.
Why can your heart go wrong?
There's lots of reasons why a person's heart may not work
properly. You might have a heart defect from birth or a
condition could develop over time. Eating well, not smoking
and leading an active life can help to keep your heart in top
condition. Find out more about different heart conditions in the
Meet@teenheart section of
this site.
Can you feel the pulse?
Your heart beats about 100,000 times a day, and you can feel it
when you take your pulse. The best places to feel for your pulse are on your wrist or
neck. 
The sound your heart makes when it beats is actually the sound
of your heart valves opening and closing.