Cardiovascular System

Christian Brooke
“The cardiovascular system, also known as the circulatory system,
is a system of the body comprised of the heart, the blood, and the
blood vessels. This system is responsible for transporting blood. As
the cardiovascular system moves blood throughout the body, cells
receive oxygen and nutrients. Carbon dioxide and other wastes are
removed from the body as well.”
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That is a diagram of the cardiovascular system, the blue section of
this diagram is deoxygenated blood and the red section is the
oxygenated blood.

Oxygen makes up about a fifth of the atmosphere. You breathe air

through your mouth and nose and it travels to your lungs. Oxygen
from the air is absorbed into your bloodstream through your lungs.
Your heart then pumps oxygenated blood through a network of
blood vessels to the arteries then to tissues including your organs,
muscles and nerves, all around your body.

This diagram below shows capillaries which are a big part of the
cardiovascular system. Capillaries are explained in the paragraph
below

In the heart, the left ventricle contracts, pushing red blood cells into
the aorta which is the body's largest artery. From here blood moves
through a series of smaller arteries, until it reaches a capillary, “A
capillary is an extremely small blood vessel located within the
tissues of the body, which transports blood from arteries to veins.” (
www.biologyabout.com )Here oxygen molecules detach from the
red blood cells and slip across the capillary wall into body tissue.
Now de-oxygenated, blood begins its return to the heart. It passes
through increasingly larger veins to eventually reach the right
atrium. It enters the right ventricle, which pumps it through the
pulmonary arteries into the lungs, to pick up more oxygen.
Oxygenated, blood reenters the left atrium, moves into the left
ventricle, and the blood's journey begins again. This is a simple
explanation too how blood travels around the body I will explain in
more complex detail further on in the assignment.

Blood cells make up our bloodstream which is the key to anything

we do. Blood cells are produced in the bone marrow, a jellylike
substance inside the bones that is composed of, among other
things, fat, blood, and special cells that turn into the various kinds of
blood cells.

The CV system which is also known as the circulatory system due to

what its purpose is, because it “circulates” blood which is
oxygenated or deoxygenated around the body. The de-oxygenated
blood enters the right atrium through the superior , inferior, The
bodies largest veins, and the coronary sinus which is rarely
mentioned due to its complex understanding. The right atrium
contracts, forcing deoxygenated blood through the tricuspid valve
and into the right ventricle. The right ventricle contracts, which
sendins blood through the pulmonary semular valve and into the
pulmonary trunk. The pulmonary trunk divides into pulmonary
arteries which we have one in each lung, this takes the
deoxygenated blood to the capillaries of the lungs.
At the lungs, carbon dioxide diffuses (diffusion is the process by
which molecules of a given substance move from an area of
relatively high concentration to an area of lower concentration) out
of the blood, and, oxygen diffuses into the blood. The capillaries are
where oxygen enters the blood stream. The oxygenated blood feeds
into the pulmonary veins, which take it from the lungs to the left
atrium. The left atrium contracts forcing blood through the bicuspid
valve and into the left ventricle.

The e left ventricle contracts, forcing blood through the aortic

semilunar valve into the aorta; this is the bodies largest artery. The
aorta divides into smaller arteries, which carry oxygenated blood to
all body tissues. And the cycle is repeated millions of times in a
lifetime. This has explained how a blood cell travels around the body
in a complex way.

“Deoxygenated blood never mixes with oxygenated blood. Instead,

the two atria and the two ventricles contract simultaneously.”
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There are many ways in which the CV (cardiovascular system)

affects sports performance. “Exercise uses up a lot of energy, which
the cells derive from oxidizing glucose. Both glucose and oxygen
have to be delivered by the blood. This means that the heart has to
work harder to pump more blood through the body. This means it
has to beat faster in order to achieve a higher throughput”
www.math.arizona.edu This explains how the cardiovascular system
responds to an increased need for blood by adjusting the width of
the blood vessels, primarily the arterioles and venuoles to adjust to
strenuous sporting activity.

The supply of blood vessels to the heart will increase therefore

lowering blood pressure and improving the functioning of the heart,
this a positive affect that exercise has on the cardiovascular system,
it will also help to lower cholesterol which will reduce the chances of
heart disease occurring.

Even though exercise has a positive affect on the body, there is also
negatives such as strenuous activity without warming up releases
adrenaline this will therefore higher the heart rate which could
result in a small heart attack if activity isn’t met to the required
amount of adrenaline.

“Your heart produces bloodflow or cardiac output through its heart

rate and its stroke volume (how much blood pushed forward per
heartbeat). If you need to increase your cardiac output, you can do
so by increasing your heart rate, increasing your stroke volume or
both.” M. Doug McGuff, M.D.

One way to increase cardiac output is to increase the amount of

blood returning to the heart heart. Our heart functions like a pump.
This means whatever volume is brought into the pump is the
volume that is pushed out, meaning, if you increase the amount of
blood returning to the heart, you will increase the amount of blood
pumped out of the heart.
Bibliography

Advanced Studies in Physical Education and Sport, P Beashel et al.

Advanced PE for Edexcel, F. Galligan et al

BTEC Sport level 3 M. Adams et al

www.math.arizona.edu

http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/627443#ixzz1FZOzqpt2

www.biologyabout.com

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M. Doug McGuff, M.D.