Cardiac Cycle

The heart pumps blood throughout the body in a cycle called the cardiac cycle, which consists of

the atria and ventricles contracting and relaxing alternately. The cycle begins with the onset of

one heartbeat and concludes at the onset of the next. As early as the fourth week of pregnancy,

the heart begins to contract.

During the relaxation part of the cardiac cycle, known as diastole, the heart chambers receive

blood through the veins and fill, and during the contraction phase, known as systole, the heart

chambers pump blood out to the body's extremities through the arteries. The atrium and

ventricles each go through a systolic phase and a diastolic phase. So, when the atria are in

diastole, the ventricles are contracting, and vice versa.

One of the most fundamental jobs of the heart is to pump blood around the rest of the body in a

continuous cycle. Every single day, the human heart will beat a total of 100,000 times. The

human cardiovascular system, which is made up of the heart, arteries, veins, and blood

capillaries, is in charge of the transportation of a wide variety of substances throughout the body,

and it is also responsible for both systemic and pulmonary circulation. The valves of the heart are

responsible for regulating blood flow, which ultimately results in the coordinated movement of

blood from one chamber to the next. The cardiac cycle is a series of contractions that occur in the

heart at regular intervals. These contractions pressurize the various chambers of the heart, which

forces blood to flow solely in one direction.

The cardiac cycle is the series of events that occur during a single heartbeat. The (Sinoatrial) SA

node has the characteristics of being automatic and rhythmic. Thus, the muscle fibers in the

ventricles and atria produce action potentials. This causes a period of depolarization followed by

repolarization. After that, the heart undergoes a set of changes that are repeated with each beat.

The cardiomyocytes that make up the heart muscle are what actually do the work of pumping

blood around the body. Cardiomyocytes are unique muscle cells that have a striated appearance

like skeletal muscle yet contract involuntary and rhythmically like smooth muscle.

In systole, the heart muscle contracts to force blood out of the body and into the aorta and

ventricles, where it is pumped to the rest of the body. In diastole, the heart muscle relaxes and

the heart fills with blood; at the same time, the atria contract to force blood into the ventricles

through the atrioventricular valves. The atrioventricular valves produce a single syllable "lub" as

they close. After a brief pause, the ventricles simultaneously contract, forcing blood through the

semilunar valves and into the aorta and the lung artery.