The Heart
Heart failure is the reflection of the harmful effects on the heart and the circulation of almost any
disease of the heart but advances in medical treatment are improving the quality of life and
outcomes for those afflicted with this condition. To better understand what is heart failure we
have to remember how a healthy heart works.
Your heart is a specialized muscle about the size of your clenched fist and its function is to pump
blood to all parts of your body. Your heart is divided into a right side and a left side. The heart
and the lungs work very closely. From the right side of the heart, the lungs receive blood poor in
oxygen and carrying waste. In the lungs, the blood gets oxygen and deposits waste products.
After your blood gets oxygen it returns to the left side of the heart where this oxygen rich blood is
pumped to the arteries. The arteries carry oxygen-rich blood to your body. Your body in turn,
collects oxygen and nutrients from the blood and deposits waste into the blood. The oxygen
depleted blood is carried out of the body by veins, and returns from the body to the right side of
the heart to re-start the process. Your body depends on this process to maintain an adequate
supply of oxygen and nutrients for your body to work effectively.1
Click below to watch the video about how your heart works.
This page was last modified on Monday, May 04, 2009