Circulation

Circulation is about how blood is carried around your body and this happens in many different ways...
 
To begin with, arteries (pronounced ar-tea-reas) carry blood away from your heart. The pumping of blood in arteries can be felt and this is known as a pulse. Try placing your fingers on the inside of your wrist, push gently and you should feel a beat.
 
Veins carry blood to your heart. The blood in your veins moves quite slowly compared to the blood in your arteries. Veins deliver food and oxygen to you.
 
Here are some facts about your circulation:

• Blood is carried in a network of blood vessels that stretch for about 96,000km!!
• When you are a baby your heart rate is about 130 beats per minute which means that blood
  races around your body much faster. By the time you are 10 years old this will have slowed
  down to about 100 beats per minute and when you are an adult to about 70 beats per minute.
• Your pets have a far quicker heart beat than we do and therefore have a faster circulation of blood.
• When you dance blood races round your body much faster because your muscles and body
  organs require oxygen. This is why you go red and become warm. The blood is pumping so fast
  that you can actually feel it through your skin!
• Your circulation pumps faster when it is cold to make sure that you stay warm.

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