Upload your study docs or become a
Course Hero member to access this document
Unformatted text preview: electrical impulses pause shortly in the cardiac muscle when it reaches the atrioventricular node (AV node). This pause allows the atria to fully empty blood into the ventricles before the ventricles start to contract. This a part of the cycle is known as diastole. Once the ventricles are filled with blood then the electrical impulse initiates the contraction of the ventricles and this part of the cycle is called systole. This sequence of electrical activity in the heart allows blood flow through the cardiac muscle by way of strong contractions that make the heart “beat” rhythmically. The heart does not work alone and the rate in which it beats is affected by several factors such as exercise, hormones, temperature, and etc. (Serway, Vuille, & Hughes, 2018)....
View
Full Document
