{"id":2016,"date":"2020-03-19T17:03:02","date_gmt":"2020-03-19T17:03:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/caremedic.gr\/how-the-heart-works\/"},"modified":"2026-10-20T08:48:23","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T08:48:23","slug":"how-the-heart-works","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/caremedic.gr\/en\/how-the-heart-works\/","title":{"rendered":"How the Heart Works"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The heart is a pump. It is a muscular organ about the size of a fist, located slightly to the left of the center of your chest. The heart is divided into the right and left sides. This division prevents oxygen-rich blood (arterial) from mixing with oxygen-poor blood (venous). In this way, through the blood vessels (arteries and veins), continuous blood circulation to the organs and tissues is maintained.    <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Right Cavities<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Oxygen-poor blood returns to the heart from the periphery. The right side of the heart, which includes the right atrium and ventricle, collects and pumps blood to the lungs through the pulmonary arteries. The lungs oxygenate the blood while removing carbon dioxide.  <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Left Cavities<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The blood, now rich in oxygen, enters the left side of the heart, which consists of the left atrium and the left ventricle. The left side of the heart pumps blood through the aorta to the tissues and organs throughout the body, supplying them with oxygen and nutrients. <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Heart Valves<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Four valves inside the heart \u201cregulate\u201d blood flow so that it moves properly, opening only in one direction and only when necessary. To function properly, a valve must be properly shaped; it must open fully and close properly to prevent leakage (insufficiency). The four valves are:  <\/p>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Aortic<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Uterine<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Pulmonary<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Triglochina<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Electrical System (Excitation)<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Electrical stimulation of the heart causes it to contract, allowing it to function as a pump. The electrical impulse \u201coriginates\u201d high up in the right atrium and is transmitted through specialized pathways (like electrical wires) to the ventricles. The conduction system allows the heart to beat at a coordinated and regular rhythm, creating two phases  <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Heart Phases<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During systole (contraction), your ventricles contract, forcing blood to flow from the right ventricle into the pulmonary arteries and from the left ventricle into your body.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During relaxation (diastole), the ventricles fill with blood from the atria (left and right).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The heart is a pump. It is a muscular organ about the size of a fist, located slightly to the left of the center of your chest. The heart is divided into the right and left sides. This division prevents oxygen-rich blood (arterial) from mixing with oxygen-poor blood (venous). In this way, through the blood [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1916,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66,79],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-general-cardiology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/caremedic.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/caremedic.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/caremedic.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/caremedic.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/caremedic.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2016"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/caremedic.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2016\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2020,"href":"https:\/\/caremedic.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2016\/revisions\/2020"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/caremedic.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/caremedic.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/caremedic.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/caremedic.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}