Activity 3 – The Circulatory System 🔬🎨

The circulatory system is a complex network of system composed of the heart, blood vessels (arteries, veins, capillaries), and blood. It is designed to ensure the survival of all cells in the body through facilitating the transport of nutrients, respiratory gasses, and other products essential in metabolic processes. The main function of this system is to pump blood, distribute oxygen throughout the body, and remove wastes, such as carbon dioxide, to maintain balance in general.

Did you know that over two and a half times the circumference of the Earth, or 66,000 miles, make up the human circulatory system? Moreover, a 75-year-old’s heart beats 2.5 billion times in their lifetime. And the heart pumps out two ounces of blood per beat, five quarts per minute, and 220 million quarts over the course of seventy years.

Learning about the circulatory system enables us to know about how our body functions and the crucial mechanisms of this system that help us to live. We can also be able to understand how disorders (e.g., hypertension, heart attack, atherosclerosis) related to it occur, leading to increased awareness and improved health habits and outcomes.

The illustration below shows some of the components of the circulatory system.

Reference:

Khan Academy. (n.d.). The circulatory system review. https://www.khanacademy.org/science/high-school-biology/hs-human-body-systems/hs-the-circulatory-and-respiratory-systems/a/hs-the-circulatory-system-review