The Circulatory System and It's Importance - Essay Example

Because of what it does for man, the circulatory system can also be considered the most important one. Without the circulatory system, man will not be able to live. People usually associate the circulatory system with blood and they are not mistaken. In the most basic sense, the job of the circulatory system is to ensure that blood moves around inside man’s body, supplying the nutrients needed in order for all the parts of the body to function properly. While the blood carries the oxygen and nutrients to the body, it also collects the carbon dioxide from the same.

If there is no proper flow of blood, the organs in the body will not be able to function well. The circulatory system can be divided into three parts: pulmonary circulation, coronary circulation and systemic circulation. The heart, lungs and bloods vessels are the major organs in each of these parts. Each individual part has its own unique process of blood circulation. “The successful circulation of each part results to an efficient distribution of blood throughout the body.” (Body) The heart The central organ in the circulatory process is the heart.

Composed of four chambers that are divided by a wall, this muscle pushes 2,000 gallons of blood containing oxygen and nutrients into the body. (Dowshen) The heart sends the blood out through its pumping motion. “It beats about 100,000 times a day, more than 30 million times per year, and about 2.5 billion times in a 70-year lifetime (Dowshen).” The speed of the heart’s pumps depends on the kind of activity the body does. It pumps slower when the body is at rest and faster when the body is in motion.

This is because man uses up more energy when immersed in activity. Energy comes from oxygen and oxygen comes from blood. The source of oxygen-rich blood is the heart. The four chambers of the heart can be grouped into two; namely, the upper and lower. The upper chamber or left and right atria receive the blood which has passed through the different organs in the body. On the other hand, the heart releases the blood to be used from the lower chamber or left and right ventricles. Two cardiac valves separate the bottom part of the heart from the blood vessels that allow blood to the rest of the body.

The pulmonic valve is between the right ventricle and the pulmonary artery which goes to the lungs. The aortic valve is between the left ventricle and the aorta. The heart also has two major arteries which in turn gives blood to the heart. The right coronary artery allows blood into the right atrium, right ventricle and the bottom part of the right and left ventricle. In contrast, the left coronary artery pumps blood to the left atrium and the left ventricle. Because of the heart’s function in supplying blood, it can be said that the heart is the most important organ in the circulatory system.

The blood vessels Blood moves around the body through three groups of blood vessels. Aside from those which deliver and release blood to and from the heart, there are also blood vessels responsible for distributing blood throughout the body and bringing blood back to the heart. The first group of blood vessels can be found in the heart. When leaving the heart, blood flows through two arteries. The aorta is the thickest blood vessel and carries blood with oxygen to the rest of the body. The pulmonary artery, on the other hand, delivers blood to the lungs which converts oxygen-poor blood into oxygen-rich blood for the body to use.

The second group of blood ve