• Home
  • About Cartia
    • Cartia’s Duentric coating
    • Cartia everyday
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Consumer Medicine Information
  • Follow your heart
    • Lifestyle tips for heart health
      • Activity & exercise
      • Diet & nutrition
      • Motivation & inspiration
      • Community
      • Exercises for a healthy heart
  • Where to buy

Cartia Low Dose Asprin

  • Home
  • About Cartia
    • Cartia’s Duentric coating
    • Cartia everyday
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Consumer Medicine Information
  • Follow your heart
    • Lifestyle tips for heart health
      • Activity & exercise
      • Diet & nutrition
      • Motivation & inspiration
      • Community
      • Exercises for a healthy heart
  • Where to buy
The Facts

How the Heart Works: A Guide to Cardiovascular Health

Home » Lifestyle Tips for Heart Health » How the Heart Works: A Guide to Cardiovascular Health

doctor examining senior woman

Your heart is the engine room of your body—working quietly in the background, pumping blood to every organ, tissue, and cell. It beats around 100,000 times a day, helping to deliver oxygen and nutrients where they’re needed, and removing waste products. Understanding how the cardiovascular system works can help you appreciate the importance of maintaining good heart health throughout life, especially as you get older.

By learning the basics of human heart anatomy and circulation, you can take proactive steps to support your wellbeing. Whether you’re in your 30s, 40s, 50s or beyond, it’s never too early—or too late—to look after your heart.

The Heart: Your Body’s Pump

The human heart is a strong, muscular organ, roughly the size of your fist, located slightly left of centre in your chest. It acts as a pump that keeps blood flowing continuously through the circulatory system, delivering essential oxygen and nutrients to other organs and muscles around the body, and also carrying away waste and carbon dioxide.

The heart has four chambers: two upper chambers (the left and right atria) and two lower chambers (the left and right ventricles). The chambers on the right side of the heart handle oxygen-poor blood returning from the body and pumping it through the lungs. The left side manages oxygen-rich blood from the lungs, pumping it rhythmically to the rest of the body.

Between the chambers are valves—small but crucial structures that open and close with each heartbeat. These valves ensure blood flows in the right direction, preventing any backflow, like one-way gates, helping blood traffic move smoothly through the system.

Cardiology Consultation

Arteries and Veins: The Blood Highway

Once blood leaves the heart, it travels through an intricate network of blood vessels. Arteries carry oxygen-rich blood away from the heart to the body, while veins return oxygen-poor blood back to the heart. Even smaller blood vessels, called capillaries, connect your arteries and veins, helping to deliver oxygen-rich blood to tissues around the body and remove carbon dioxide and waste. Together, these vessels form a complex oxygen and nutrient transport system that’s approximately 100,000 km long.

Arteries are like high-pressure motorways, quickly moving oxygenated blood to organs and muscles. Veins, on the other hand, are more like slower roads, carrying used blood back to the heart to begin the cycle again.

Just as road systems need to be kept clear and well-maintained, so too do your blood vessels. When they function efficiently, helping support consistent energy, brain function, and healthy organs, but if there is a blockage or something wrong with them, congestion happens, which puts pressure on the whole system, and this can lead to problems developing.

Senior woman having blood pressure checked

How Blood Circulates Through the Body

Blood flow happens through two major loops: pulmonary and systemic circulation.

Pulmonary circulation moves blood from the right side of the heart to the lungs, where the blood releases carbon dioxide and picks up oxygen. It then returns to the left side of the heart full of oxygen and ready for the next journey.

Systemic circulation begins as oxygen-rich blood leaves the left side of the heart and travels through the arteries to nourish the rest of the body, and all its muscles and organs. After the exchange of gases and nutrients to help everything in the body function as it should, the blood returns to the heart through the veins to begin the process again.

This continuous circulation is essential—it fuels every function in the body, from thinking and movement to digestion and healing. When circulation is functioning efficiently, you feel energised and well-supported.

Know Your Heart: Why Awareness Matters

healthy old man

Understanding how your heart works isn’t just for science buffs—it’s for anyone who wants to stay healthy and active as they age. Knowing the basics of human heart anatomy and circulation empowers you to make informed choices for better heart health.

Simple lifestyle changes can make a big difference. A balanced diet can support heart health, regular physical activity helps keep your cardiovascular system strong, and staying motivated with small goals keeps you on track. If you’re aged over 50, it’s also a great time to consider a regular heart health check with your doctor.

You can also speak with a healthcare professional for personalised advice.

By taking a moment to understand how the heart, arteries, and veins work together, you’re already taking the first step towards better health. A healthy heart doesn’t need complicated changes—just consistent, mindful ones.

Caring for your heart starts with simple knowledge and small daily choices. Make the time to learn more, move more, and eat well. Your future self will thank you for it.

home diet
Diet & Nutrition

Healthy foods for a healthy heart

Healthy eating is not all about dieting and depriving yourself of the foods you love, it means eating the right foods in the right amounts – it’s about being healthy and feeling great!

Want to eat better but just don’t know where to start? Click here, to read about tips to help you get started:

Find Out More
elderly-people-smiling
Activity & Exercise

Over 50 and healthy: best exercises for a healthy heart

A healthy diet and exercise can help you to safeguard your heart. Take charge with daily exercise for a healthy heart.

While you might think it’s…

Find Out More
couple holding hands
Motivation & Inspiration

A Little Motivation to Keep You Healthy

When life deals us a blow it’s normal to feel down, stressed or even a little guilty for a while. But it’s also a chance to make a fresh start. Reconsider old habits and start making new ones. It can be the reason to get off the couch and exercise more regularly, the inspiration for a healthier lifestyle, or just the motivation to enjoy life and the people around you.

All you need is the right motivation.

Find Out More

Cartia Logo

Duentric coated, low-dose aspirin Cartia tablet pack, Cartia box, and Australia Made logo Logo

ALWAYS READ THE LABEL AND FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS FOR USE.

Cartia helps prevent blood clotting and reduces the risk of heart attack and stroke in patients with known cardiovascular or cerebrovascular disease. For use under medical supervision only. The use of low dose aspirin may be only one component of your medical practitioner’s management plan to prevent you from having a further heart attack or stroke. You should discuss this plan with your medical practitioner. Do not substitute other medicines containing aspirin, for this medicine, without first consulting your Pharmacist or medical practitioner.

 

Trademarks are owned by or licensed to the Aspen Group of companies. © 2023 Aspen Group of companies or its licensor. All rights reserved. Aspen Pharmacare Australia Pty Ltd. 34-36 Chandos Street, St Leonards NSW 2065.


  • Terms of use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Social Media Policy
  • Sitemap
  • Contact us