Care of the Older Person

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ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY James Costello Assignment Section A i. Describe the function of the heart, and the structure of arteries, veins and capillaries. The heart is a muscle that contracts regularly and continuously, pumping blood around the body and the lungs, the pumping action is caused by a flow of electricity through the heart that repeats itself in a cycle, it has four chambers, two at the top called the Atriums, and two at the bottom the Ventricles, to pump the blood through the arteries, veins and capillaries. Arteries are stronger and have thick walls and are more elastic than veins and capillaries because of the high pressure of blood that flows through them, the elastic layer helps them to stretch, and they also have muscle to help them open and close. Veins have thinner walls because the pressure of blood that flows through them is lower than in the arteries, Capillaries are what link the arteries and veins and exchange molecules in the blood, their walls are even thinner than veins because the blood pressure that flows through them is even lower, 30% of the blood in your circulation can be found in your arteries, 65% in your veins, and 5% in your capillaries, Blood is made up of 55% plasma, and 45% white and red blood cells. (innerbody.com) ii. Explain and label the cardiac cycle and indicate the blood flow of the blood through the main blood vessels by using the diagram (See section A diagram in appedix) The cardiac cycle is the sequence of events that occurs every time the heart beats. There is two phases in the cardiac cycle. In the diastole phase, the heart ventricles are relaxed and the heart fills with blood. In the systole phase, the ventricles contract to pump blood to the arteries, one cardiac cycle is completed when the heart is filled with blood and pumps out of the heart. During the diastole phase the atria and ventricles are
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