The circulatory system is by default also called the cardiovascular system. The five liters of blood in your body travels approximately 12000 miles per day.
That’s a miracle. But in our body, there is other stuff circulated too.
Circulation means going round in circles, recycling, reusing.Your body has the most efficient circulation possible. The balance of fluids and minerals is maintained by reasonable control of blood pressure and epithelial integrity.
In case of any of these not working, blood circulation can be hampered, resulting in shock.In simple terms when I talk about circulatory system for kids it comes to this.
The circulatory system is made up of-
Blood circulation: Heart, blood vessels like veins and arteries.
Lymph circulation: Lymph nodes, Lymphatic vessels.
Veins: Carry blood towards the Heart. The venous system carries the deoxygenated blood full of CO2(carbon dioxide) to the Heart.
Arteries: Carry blood away from the Heart. Your arteries carry oxygenated blood full of nutrients to send to different parts of your body.
Without it, the cells there don’t get the crucial oxygen needed to live and work.
A fun fact: Notable exception to how veins and arteries work
From the right ventricle, the pulmonary artery takes deoxygenated blood to the lungs to get oxygenated.
The pulmonary vein carries oxygenated blood from the lungs to the Heart (left atrium). Do you understand the anamoly?
Lymphatic and CSF circulation?
Lymph circulation helps to collect extracellular fluids. All of this is finally empties into the Heart, the central organ controlling what comes in, getting it oxygenated, and then getting them sent to the different body parts.
Why is circulation important?
Just like you want to recycle the wastewater from washing your vessels in your kitchen for watering plants, your body recycles blood through the lungs to remove carbon dioxide.
Circulation through the lungs helps in removing carbon dioxide from the venous blood.It then gets filled with oxygen, becoming oxygenated blood. This is where the amount of hemoglobin (a protein ) you have is essential. The Haemoglobin in your red blood cells carries oxygen in combination with iron. In case your Haemoglobin is low, or you have low iron, or any other condition which prevents your Haemoglobin from carrying oxygen, there’s going to be a problem.
In CO poisoning, the carbon monoxide molecule gets attached to the site of attachment of oxygen and is the reason behind CO poisoning deaths. Oxygen is crucial to life, and plants help you get it. So don’t forget to take care of all your green friends for more oxygen to breathe in.
Did you know snoring or OSA is a condition when your brain gets less oxygen?
The brain cannot survive for more than 8 minutes without oxygen, and good function is lost after 3 minutes. If resuscitation is done after four to six minutes of a massive cardiac arrest, then irreversible brain damage and coma are often the results.
I will discuss your Heart, veins, arteries, and lymphatic system in more detail in the later posts. But for now, you need to know thIS.
For good circulation, you need-
- Healthy Heart: Diet, exercise, and mental health all play a role
- Good muscle tone, so exercise and diet again.
- Drink water
- Take care of your gut too.
It’s not easy to talk about circulation, but since this is a part of A to Z, I am trying.
