The heart is a body organ, located in the left side of the ribcage. It handles the blood circulation, hence its very central position. The whole body needs to be oxygenated constantly, and the blood conveys most of the oxygen that is breathed.
The blood circuit is made of veins and arteries. It is a double circuit that allows oxygen to circulate, and carbon dioxide to be propelled from the body.

The heart is a kind of pump that beats at a frequency between 55 to 80 beats per minute. It receives the oxygen from the lungs, transmit it to the blood and propels it in the body. Once the blood has oxygenated the body organs, it becomes poor in oxygen that turns into carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide is then conveyed to the heart, that pumps it to the lungs.

The heart is in a way the “motor” of the body. Heart beatings are not provoked by anything special: It doesn't need any stimulation to pump, and it beats 100 000 times per day and more than 2 billions in an average lifetime.

If someone's heart stops beating for too long (several minutes), it will disrupt his brain activity and lead to his death. People with heart failures have a “slow” heart that cannot provide a normal flow of blood in the body. Cardiologists can implant a pacemaker to patients with weak hearts. It is a sort of battery that stimulates the heart.

The heart is so vital, that it became a metaphor for love! Everyone knows how to draw a cute heart, when it is actually a quite repelling organ, full of mini vessels. One of the reason why it turned into this romantic symbol, is that when feeling in love, some chemical reactions makes the heart beating more rapidly.

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