What side is your heart on?
Your heart is slightly on the left side of your body. It sits between your right and left lungs. The left lung is slightly smaller to make room for the heart in your left chest.
How big is your heart?
Everyone’s heart is a slightly different size. Generally, adult hearts are about the same size as two clenched fists, and children’s hearts are about the same size as one clenched fist.
How much does your heart weigh?
On average, an adult’s heart weighs about 10 ounces. Your heart may weigh a little more or a little less, depending on your body size.
What are the parts of the heart’s anatomy?
The parts of your heart are like the parts of a house. Your heart has:
- Walls.
- Chambers (rooms).
- Valves (doors).
- Blood vessels (plumbing).
- Electrical conduction system (electricity).
Heart walls
Your heart walls are the muscles that contract (squeeze) and relax to send blood throughout your body. A layer of muscular tissue called the septum divides your heart walls into the left and right sides.
Your heart walls have three layers:
- Endocardium: Inner layer.
- Myocardium: Muscular middle layer.
- Pericardium: Protective outer layer.
The pericardium is one layer of your pericardium. The pericardium is a protective sac that covers your entire heart. It produces fluid to lubricate your heart and keep it from rubbing against other organs.
Heart chambers
Your heart is divided into four chambers. You have two chambers on the top (atrium, plural atria) and two on the bottom (ventricles), one on each side of the heart.
- Right atrium: Two large veins deliver oxygen-poor blood to your right atrium. The superior carries blood from your upper body. The inferior brings blood from the lower body. Then the right atrium pumps the blood to your right ventricle.
- Right ventricle: The lower right chamber pumps the oxygen-poor blood to your lungs through the pulmonary artery. The lungs reload blood with oxygen.
- Left atrium: After the lungs fill blood with oxygen, the pulmonary veins carry the blood to the left atrium. This upper chamber pumps the blood to your left ventricle.
- Left ventricle: The left ventricle is slightly larger than the right. It pumps oxygen-rich blood to the rest of your body.
Heart valves
Your heart valves are like doors between your heart chambers. They open and close to allow blood to flow through.
The atrioventricular (AV) valves open between your upper and lower heart chambers. They include:
- Tricuspid valve: Door between your right atrium and right ventricle.
- Mitral valve: Door between your left atrium and left ventricle.
Semilunar (SL) valves open when blood flows out of your ventricles. They include:
- Aortic valve: Opens when blood flows out of your left ventricle to your aorta (artery that carries oxygen-rich blood to your body).
- Pulmonary valve: Opens when blood flows from your right ventricle to your pulmonary arteries (the only arteries that carry oxygen-poor blood to your lungs).
Blood vessels
Your heart pumps blood through three types of blood vessels:
- Arteries carry oxygen-rich blood from your heart to your body’s tissues. The exception is your pulmonary arteries, which go to your lungs.
- Veins carry oxygen-poor blood back to your heart.
- Capillaries are small blood vessels where your body exchanges oxygen-rich and oxygen-poor blood.
Your heart receives nutrients through a network of coronary arteries. These arteries run along your heart’s surface. They serve the heart itself.
- Myocardial infarction: A sudden coronary artery blockage that cuts off oxygen to part of your heart muscle. It is commonly known as a heart attack. It occurs when blood supply to the part of heart is interrupted and leads to the death of heart muscles. Heart attack may be caused by blood clot in coronary arteries. It is a medical emergency, and the leading cause of death for both men and women all over the world.
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