How long does it take for blood to circulate once?

I believe that everyone does not know much about their own body. In fact, only by carefully understanding every part of our body can we promptly and sensitively discover their abnormal conditions and nip many diseases in the bud. Well, today I will help you understand the most basic things about how long it takes for our blood to circulate once and the state it is in after the circulation.

The systemic circulation begins in the left ventricle. After the blood is pumped out from the left ventricle, it flows through the aorta and several arterial branches derived from it, delivering the blood to the corresponding organs. The arteries branch out multiple times, their diameter gradually becomes thinner, and the number of blood vessels gradually increases, eventually reaching the capillaries, where they exchange substances with tissue cells through the intercellular fluid.

The oxygen and nutrients in the blood are absorbed by the tissues, while the carbon dioxide and other metabolic products in the tissues enter the blood, turning arterial blood into venous blood. During this period, the diameter of the veins gradually becomes thicker and the number gradually decreases until finally all the veins converge into the superior vena cava and the inferior vena cava, from which the blood returns to the left atrium, thus completing the systemic circulation process.

The pulmonary circulation begins in the right ventricle. Venous blood is pumped out by the right ventricle and reaches the capillary network around the alveoli through the pulmonary artery, where it releases carbon dioxide and absorbs fresh oxygen, turning venous blood into arterial blood, and then flows back to the left atrium through the pulmonary veins. The blood in the left atrium enters the left ventricle again and is distributed throughout the body through the general circulation. In this way, blood continuously circulates through systemic circulation and pulmonary circulation, completing the important task of blood circulation.

Pulmonary circulation: right ventricle -- pulmonary artery -- capillary network in the lungs -- pulmonary vein -- left atrium

Systemic circulation: left ventricle -- aorta -- capillary network throughout the body -- superior and inferior vena cava -- right atrium

Through the above analysis, everyone should be able to clearly realize how much impact our blood circulation has on our life course. Blood circulation is the main pathway of metabolism. Normal metabolism and detoxification can maintain the normal functioning of our organs. Therefore, it is important for us to understand blood circulation.