What is the CardioVascular System?

The cardiovascular system is composed of your heart and the circulatory system. This is the system that transports food, hormones, metabolic wastes, and gases to and from the cells. Some of the components of the circulatory system are the blood, the blood vessels and the main one which is the heart.

What is the heart for?

Your heart is like a pump that pushes blood to the organs, tissues and the cells in your body. Think of it as an engine in a car. Your heart is what keeps the blood in your body running just like an engine is what keeps a car running. A heart can weight between 7 and 15 ounces and is about the size of your fist. What the heart does is that it keeps your blood running through your body. If your heart stops, the blood in your body would stop running and you would die.

What is the blood for?

Blood is made up of a few components. It is 80% water and 20% other substances for example salts and sugars. Blood is what carries important nutrients to your body’s cells and to infections. While the blood carries nutrients and leaves them behind, it also picks up carbon dioxide and wastes that areleft by other cells in your body. When the blood gets into the kidneys, the blood is dirty with all the carbon dioxide and waste products left over by cells in your body, so as the blood enters your kidney, it cleans it , when it comes out again, your blood is clean and ready to go around your body again to clean and leave nutrients. There are different types of blood: A, B, AB, and O.

 

Blood can be lost through small cuts, but it can be replaced because the cells in your bones are always producing blood. When it comes to big cuts, you can loose a lot of blood, which can be dangerous, but another person can give you blood through blood transfusions. People with type O blood are called “universal donors” because they can give blood to anyone, but can only receive blood with type O.

Did you know that if all the vessels in your body were laid end-to-end, they would extend for about 60,000 miles!! Far enough to circle the earth more than twice!!