What Is the Heart?

Your heart is a muscular organ that acts like a pump to continuously send blood throughout your body.

Your heart is at the center of your circulatory system. This system consists of a network of blood vessels, such as arteries, veins, and capillaries. These blood vessels carry blood to and from all areas of your body.

An electrical system regulates your heart and uses electrical signals to contract the heart's walls. When the walls contract, blood is pumped into your circulatory system. A system of inlet and outlet valves in your heart chambers work to ensure that blood flows in the right direction.

Your heart is vital to your health and nearly everything that goes on in your body. Without the heart's pumping action, blood can't circulate within your body.

Your blood carries the oxygen and nutrients that your organs need to work normally. Blood also carries carbon dioxide, a waste product, to your lungs to be passed out of your body and into the air.

A healthy heart supplies the areas of your body with the right amount of blood at the rate needed to work normally. If disease or injury weakens your heart, your body's organs won't receive enough blood to work normally.

Revised July 2009