Why Is Cardiovascular System Important

The cardiovascular system plays a very important role in keeping the body alive. It is responsible for transportation of blood around the body. Blood carries many important things such as oxygen and nutrients to various organs allowing them to function properly. Blood also carries waste such as carbon dioxide to the lungs for gas exchange and metabolic waste to the kidneys for filtration and excretion. The cardiovascular system comprises of three different parts these being the heart, blood and blood vessels.

To understand what a blood pressure reading means a basic knowledge of the cardiovascular system is needed. The heart is one of the bodies’ most vital organs, without it the body would not receive oxygen and could not survive. The heart is comprised of 4 chambers, a left and right atrium and left and right ventricle. The deoxygenated blood enters the heart via a vein into the right atrium where it moves into the right ventricle before being transported to lungs via the pulmonary artery for oxygenation before returning to the heart into the left atrium. From the left atrium the now oxygenated blood
Of course maintaining a perfect blood pressure of 120/80 is impossible with these fluctuations but keeping it somewhat healthy is vital. Hypertension can occur due to a number of different factors including age, lack of physical activity, alcohol, caffeine, smoking and stress, these are all over a long period of time. Fluctuations however are short term changes in blood pressure and can be observed when taking measurements after eating a big meal, having a full bladder, after caffeine and alcohol, after exercise, smoking and even not having the correct posture during the measurement. The aim of the following experiment is to determine how different factors (full stomach, bladder and after caffeine) effect fluctuations in blood pressure in a variety of