23/09/2022
*Does the heart create electricity? and can the heart work without the brain?*
The heart can beat on its own it does not need a brain or a body for that matter, to keep beating, the heart has the electrical system that causes it to beat and pump blood, and as we all know that the heart‘s main job is to pump blood.
Your heart’s upper chambers (atria) take in your blood from your lungs and body. They pass that blood on to your lower chambers (ventricles)through the first set of valves. Your second set of valves then open, and the ventricles push the blood out to your lungs and body.
But the question is how does this happen?
All of this action is coordinated by your heart’s electrical system. Your heartbeat starts at the top of your heart in the sinoatrial node SA node, which is located in the right upper chambers of the heart. The SA node sends the impulse that makes the top of your heart contract. Then the electrical impulse travels from the sinoatrial node to the atrioventricular node or AV node. The Av node slows down the electrical message slightly to give the atria time to contract. Then the electrical impulse passes rapidly along with the atrioventricular bundle which extends from the AV node to the fibrous skeleton into the interventricular septum.
The atrioventricular bundle divides into right and left bundle branches and the electrical impulses descend rapidly to the apex of each ventricle along the bundle branches.
The electrical impulses are carried by the Purkinje fibers from the bundle branches to the ventricular walls.
The rapid conduction from the atrioventricular bundle to the ends of the Purkinje fibers allows the ventricular muscle cells to contract.
Normally at rest as the electrical impulse moves through the heart, the heart contracts about 60 to 100 times per minute, depending on a person’s age.
Previously as we said that the heart can work without the brain, but can the brain control the heart?
The autonomic nervous system is a separate system of the brain that can either speed up or slow down the heart rate. It can transmit a message quickly to the SA node so it in turn increases the heart rate to twice normal within only 3 to 5 seconds. The quick response is important during exercise when the heart has to increase its beating speed, to keep up with the body’s increased demand for oxygen.
that is it.
It is really so amazing, how wonderful the creator created us.
Tomorrow our topic will be about Blood Flow Through The Heart.
Stay tuned😊
