The Circulatory System

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The Circulatory System

Have you ever wondered how the circulatory system works? Me too! It is truly amazing what our body does to pump blood (a liquid that carries nutrients) around the body to supply the muscles with energy.
The circulatory system is the system in our bodies that is in-charge of circulating blood around the body. The heart is the central point of the circulatory system. It is almost entirely made of involuntary muscle, meaning that the heart works on its own, and the brain doesn't have to tell it what to do. The heart propels blood throughout the body by twisting. The blood that is pumped is full of nutrients that the rest of the body needs. The heart pumps around 100,000 times per day, and can be told by the brain to pump either more or less blood based of what the body needs. For example, if you are scared, of have an adrenaline rush, the brain needs to tell the heart to pump more blood in order to supply the body with sufficient nutrients.
Mammals have two main systems for blood circulation, pulmonary and systemic. Pulmonary circulation is the system that circulates blood from the heart, to the lungs and then back to the heart. In pulmonary circulation, deoxygenated blood enters the right atrium of the heart, and then flows into the right ventricle. From there, the blood trickles into the pulmonary semilunar valve, which is the only valve that holds deoxygenated blood in the entire body. After that, the deoxygenated blood flows to the lungs where it becomes oxygenated. For systemic circulation, the freshly oxygenated blood re-enters the heart through the Pulmonary veins, which are the only veins that hold oxygenated blood. The blood enters the left atrium through those veins. From there the blood is tra...

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.... You can get hypertension by:
-smoking
-obesity
-diabetes
-sitting down too much (school)
-lack of exercise
-too much salt
-lack of calcium
-lack of vitamin D
-too much alcohol
-stress (school)
-aging
-birth control pills
-genetics
-chronic kidney disease
-adrenal and thyroid problems.
Atherosclerosis is caused by plaque buildup on the artery wall. You can prevent these diseases by eating healthy and getting enough exercise.
In conclusion, the circulatory system is a very amazing part of our bodies. It works perfectly to our advantage and helps us survive. Our bodies are amazing.

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Works Cited

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/the-path-of-blood-through-the-human-body.html http://kidshealth.org/parent/general/body_basics/heart.html http://anthro.palomar.edu/blood/blood_components.htm
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/150109.php

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