The Heart Structure
Think of your heart as a four-room house with a clever traffic system. The four chambers work in pairs: two atria at the top (right and left atrium) and two ventricles at the bottom (right and left ventricle).
Here's how the blood journey works: deoxygenated blood from your body enters the right atrium through the vena cava, then flows down to the right ventricle. Meanwhile, oxygenated blood from your lungs enters the left atrium via the pulmonary vein, then moves to the left ventricle.
Heart valves are like one-way doors that prevent blood from flowing backwards. The tricuspid valve sits between the right atrium and ventricle, whilst the bicuspid valve does the same job on the left side. Semi-lunar valves guard the exits where blood leaves the heart through the pulmonary artery and aorta.
Key Point: The right side of your heart deals with deoxygenated blood going to the lungs, whilst the left side handles oxygenated blood going to the rest of your body.
