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How Your Heart Works

The heart is an amazing organ responsible for pumping blood around the body. Blood delivers the oxygen and nutrients the organs and muscles of the body need to work, and also carries away unwanted carbon dioxide and other waste materials produced by the body.

The heart has four chambers, the right and left atria and the right and left ventricles. Blood returns from the body (to the right atria of the heart) through the veins. This blood is low in oxygen and high in carbon dioxide. It is pumped from the right atria into the right ventricle which contracts and propels blood into the lungs to be enriched with oxygen. This oxygen-rich blood is then sent back from the lungs to the left atria of the heart which contracts and sends the blood into the left ventricle. The left ventricle is the heart's main pumping chamber and from here blood is sent back to the body through the arteries.

This whole cycle takes less than a second, resulting in around 70 heart beats a minute when you're resting, and up to 200 beats a minute when you're exercising. Naturally, your body requires more oxygen when you're exercising which is why your heart beats faster.

The heart is a massively strong muscle yet it only weighs around 340g (12 ounces) and resembles the size of a clenched fist. Throughout the world, the heart is synonymous with emotions such as love or courage and has come to symbolise the spirit of life itself.

How Your Heart Works

Amazing heart facts

  1. Your heart beats around 100,000 times a day and pumps out between 6 and 50 litres of blood every minute
  2. That's around 9,000 litres of blood on a normal day
  3. Your heartbeat is the sound of your heart valves opening and closing
  4. You have four heart valves which open and close to control the flow of blood through the heart
  5. The fitter you are the slower your heart rate because when the heart is exercised regularly it become larger and can therefore pump more blood - that's why athletes often have very low heart rates, as low as 35 beats per minute
  6. During a typical lifetime, your heart will beat 3,000 million times and pump 250 million litres of blood

The Weetabix Healthy Heart section is designed to help you look after your heart by understanding your personal risk factors, together with information to help you keep your heart healthy. Many factors can increase your risk of heart disease, some of which you can't change and some of which you can. Once you understand your personal risk, it's easier to make changes in your lifestyle to help reduce this risk. Even if you're at low risk from heart disease it's still important to keep your heart healthy, especially as you get older. Browse the other pages within this section for more information on how to keep your heart healthy.

How Your Heart Works

What is heart disease?

Heart disease is an umbrella term for a number of different diseases which can affect the heart, often leading to a heart attack or stroke. A heart attack occurs when blood flow to the heart is blocked, often by a blood clot, while a stroke is caused by a blockage or burst blood vessels in the brain.

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