National American Heart Month
Of all the organs in our bodies, it's the heart that seems to snag the most attention. Songwriters croon about broken hearts ("Achy Breaky Heart") and holidays like Valentine's Day are dedicated to it. This month, it makes the spotlight in hopes to shed awareness of keeping it healthy.
For National American Heart Month, here's a lesson about the heart you should share with your loved ones! Your kids may think their heart is – well - heart-shaped. But it's actually a cone-shaped muscle that works like a pump. It's roughly the size of a person's fist. It contains four chambers: A left and right atrium and a left and right ventricle.
When the heart beats, it's sending blood in and out of it and makes a dub-lub sound. The heart gets oxygen-rich blood from the lungs pumped into the body so that the body's cells can function properly. It also receives oxygen-poor blood and delivers it to the lungs so it can pick up oxygen.
People suffer strokes, heart attacks and other cardio vascular illness when the heart isn't healthy. Get the family to wear red on Feb. 3 -– National Wear Red Day -- to generate awareness of this all-important organ.
Content provided by Oakland University.
- More -
