The Heart 6 th Class Scoil Íde

What is your heart for ? Your heart is a muscle that pumps blood around the body via blood vessels. The heart is inside your chest, protected by bones - the ribs and breast bone. When the heart pumps, it beats - we measure the heartbeat via the pulse - easily found on your wrist and neck. Blood carries oxygen to the parts of the body that need it.

HEART

Some interesting facts about the human heart! Your heart is about the size of your fist. In most adults it beats about 70 times a minute (70 bpm). In children and small animals, the heart beats faster. You cannot normally live for more than 5 minutes if your heart stops beating.

Heart disease is the number 1 killer in the western world! Doctors examine your heart by taking the pulse (to see how fast it’s beating), ECGs (special electrical rhythm charts), x-rays and scans including ultrasound (like an unborn baby scan

Heart Health Man having a chest x-ray Heart on chest x-ray Ultrasound output

But what does the heart look like?

Here is the heart!

The parts of the heart:

How does the heart pump the blood? Blood from the body is pumped, by the Veins, into the Right Atrium and then into the Right Ventricle This blood is deoxygenated blood and is blueish in colour This Deoxygenated Blood is then pumped into the lungs.

What happens now? It is in the lungs that the blood receives oxygen and becomes red again. This blood is now called oxygenated blood This Oxygenated blood is then pumped into the Left Atrium and then into the Left Ventricle. The blood is then taken, by the Arteries, around the whole body

Lets look at this path on our own chart! Can you trace the blood flow?

Well Done You have followed the path of blood flow through the heart!

What is a heart beat? The heart contains valves These valves make sure the blood flows in ONE DIRECTION ONLY! When these valves close after blood is pumped through them, they create a noise THE HEARTBEAT!

THE HEARTBEAT The number of heartbeats that occur per minute is called our Heart Rate or Pulse Adults pulse is 70 beats per minute Child pulse is between beats per minute

Lets find your pulse! The most obvious is found in your wrist or your neck. Lets find our pulse! Watch for the demonstration!

You have found your pulse! What you have just found is called your resting pulse. It is called this because your body is not doing any hard work so it is AT REST! What do you think would happen if we exercised? Lets find out!

When you exercise parts of your body need an increased blood supply (more oxygen and nutrients) so your heart beats faster. You also breathe faster - to get more oxygen into your lungs, and to get rid of the carbon dioxide. You also get hot and sometimes flushed (or red faced). Why did our heart rates increase after exercise?

Healthy vs an unhealthy heart A healthy heart is very important to our overall body health. Why do you think this is so?

Spot the Difference!

What’s bad for our heart health? Work with the person beside and make a list

How can we combat these problems? Again, work with the person beside you!

Heart and Lungs Quiz Are they True or False? Your heart pumps blood around your body. The heartbeat of children is slower than adults. Your blood carries carbon dioxide to all the parts that need it. Your pulse tells you how much air you are breathing. Athletes have a slower resting pulse than unfit people. The ribs are bones that protect the heart and lungs. Exercise and eating healthily are good for your heart.

Heart and Lungs Quiz Your heart pumps blood around your body. –True The heartbeat of children is slower than adults. –False – the smaller the animal the faster the heartbeat. Your blood carries carbon dioxide to all the parts that need it. –False – the blood carries oxygen to all the parts that need it. Your pulse tells you how much air you are breathing. –False – pulse tells us how fast your heart is beating. Athletes have a slower resting pulse than unfit people. –True The ribs are bones that protect the heart and lungs. –True Exercise and eating healthily are good for your heart. –True