15 Circulatory System Facts for Kids

Have you ever took just a minute to listen to your heart beating? Ever measured your pulse? If you have, then you know just a bit about the circulatory system. The circulatory system is the system in your body that pumps and delivers blood to various areas through a network of veins, capillaries, and arteries. Everyone has a heart and a circulatory system. If you want to learn more about your heart, then read on.

1. Hearts are actually muscles. The heart is one of the only muscles that works in your body without you having to think about it.

2. Your heart is actually made up of two separate pumps consisting of a pair of pumps, each. One set, called the atrium (or atria, if talking about one) is used to gather blood from the body and lungs. The other is used to push the blood back out to the lungs and body and is called the ventricles (or ventricle, if you are talking about one).

3. The entire trip around your body only takes blood about 20 seconds in total.

4. Blood is what is used to transport oxygen, waste, nutrients, and more throughout the body.

5. An adult body contains about 9 pints of blood.

6. Blood is actually blue in color. It turns red when exposed to oxygen because of a substance called hemoglobin.

7. Two main types of cells make up blood: white and red blood cells.

8. White blood cells fight germs, infections, viruses, and illnesses in the body.

9. Red blood cells are used in the delivery of oxygen to various areas of the body. They are made in bone marrow. All your red blood cells are replaced each 4 months.

10. Platelets are also found in blood. These small cells clump together to help blood clot.

11. Plasma is the name of the liquid in which all of these various cells travel in the body.

12. Over the course of a single lifetime, your heart can beat over 2.5 billion times!

13. Three main types of blood vessels make up the circulatory system. From largest to smallest they are arteries, veins, and capillaries.

14. If you were able to lay all the veins, arteries, and capillaries in an adult body, end-to-end, they would stretch out over 62,500 miles.

15. The measure of blood pressure is the measure of how much pressure your pumping heart is exerting upon the veins of your body.