HEART YOUR HEART

Did you give your friends valentines and little heart-shaped candies on Valentine's Day? Do you ever cross your heart when making a promise that you really, really mean? Or turn on the radio to hear a guy singing about his broken heart? We see and hear about hearts everywhere.

A long time ago, people even thought that their emotions came from their hearts, maybe because the heart beats faster when a person is scared or excited. Now we know that emotions come from the brain, and in this case, the brain tells the heart to speed up. So what's the heart up to, then? How does it keep busy? What does it look like? Let's find out.

What it looks like
 
Your Heart is about the same size as a pear. It sits behind your sternum and your ribs on the left side of your body just next to your sternum.
It has four parts,, the left ventricle (say ven-trik-ul)and the right ventricle which are both at the bottom of the heart, and the atrium (say ay-tree-um) and the right atrium at the top.
The heart is two pumps join together.

What it does

The walls of the heart are made of really strong muscles that squeeze and relax to pump blood around the body.
It does this about 90 times a minute if you're a child and 70 times a minute if your are an adult.
 
 
Blood is pushed from the atriums into the ventricles on each side of the heart.
Between them, small valves open and shut with each heartbeat so the blood can only flow in one direction.
The left side of the heart gets the blood from the lungs where it has collected oxygen, and pushes it all round the body through the arteries and the tiny blood vessels called capillaries (say cap-il-a-rees). This blood is a bright red colour.
The right side of the heart gets the blood after it has taken oxygen round the body and sends it back to the lungs for some more oxygen. This blood is carrying carbon dioxide (say car-bon dye-ox-eye-d), which gets breathed out when it reaches the lungs. This blood looks a darker red colour.
So the main job of the heart is to pump blood to every part of the body. The blood carries oxygen and all the food, vitamins and minerals that your body needs to move, think, grow and repair itself. At the same time the blood picks up stuff that your body doesn't need and takes it to those parts of your body that get rid of waste (your lungs, kidneys and liver).
Your blood is pumped all around your body and gets back to your heart in about a minute.

Keep Heart Happy

Most kids are born with a healthy heart and it's important to keep yours in good shape. Here are some things that you can do to help keep your heart happy:

• Remember that your heart is a muscle. If you want it to be strong, you need to exercise it. How do you do it? By being active in a way that gets you huffing and puffing, like jumping rope, dancing, or playing basketball. Try to be active every day for at least 30 minutes! An hour would be even better for your heart!

 

• Eat a variety of healthy foods and avoid foods high in unhealthy fats, such as saturated fats and trans fats (reading the labels on foods can help you figure out if your favorite snacks contain these unhealthy ingredients).
• Try to eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables each day.
• Avoid sugary soft drinks and fruit drinks.
• Don't smoke. It can damage the heart and blood vessels.

So now you know that your heart doesn't look like a valentine, but it sure deserves to be loved for all the work it does. It started pumping blood before you were born and will continue pumping throughout your whole life.
 

You should know:

The changes in the heart and blood vessels which cause heart attacks in adults are now starting in many more children and young people. They won't have a heart attack while they are kids, but some of the damage is done then.
Keep your heart healthy by eating healthy food, exercising, getting plenty of sleep and having fun!





Credit : 
http://www.cyh.com/HealthTopics/HealthTopicDetailsKids.aspx?p=335&np=152&id=1446
http://kidshealth.org/kid/htbw/heart.html#