The Body

Grown-ups

Arteries

Arteries are strong, stretchy tubes that carry blood away from your heart to every part of you.

Blood rushes out from the heart in an artery, squeezes through tiny capillaries, and heads home in a vein. Tap any part!

Away from the heart

Arteries are the blood tubes that carry blood away from your heart. Here is a trick to remember: artery and away both start with A.

The biggest artery is the aorta. It branches into smaller arteries, and those branch into even smaller ones, like the branches of a tree.

The smallest arteries lead into capillaries, tiny tubes where blood drops off oxygen to your cells.

Thick, stretchy walls

Each heartbeat sends blood shooting into your arteries with a big push. How hard the blood pushes is called blood pressure.

To handle that push, arteries have thick walls made of muscle and stretchy fibers. They stretch out a little with each beat and then spring back.

That stretch is your pulse! When you feel your pulse in your wrist or neck, you are feeling an artery stretch as a wave of blood goes by.

A hug for your arm

At a checkup, a nurse may wrap a soft cuff around your arm and puff it up with air. It gives your arm a tight hug for a few seconds, then the air hisses out.

This measures your blood pressure, how hard your blood pushes on your artery walls. It does not hurt, it just squeezes.

Blood pressure goes up when you run and play, and goes down when you rest. That is normal.

Mostly full of oxygen

Most arteries carry bright red blood that is full of oxygen, fresh from the lungs.

There is one big exception. The pulmonary artery carries oxygen-poor blood from the heart to the lungs, so it can pick up oxygen there. It is still called an artery because it carries blood away from the heart.

So the rule is all about direction: arteries go away from the heart, no matter what kind of blood is inside.

🤩 Wow facts

  • Artery and away both start with A: arteries carry blood away from the heart.
  • Long ago, some thinkers believed arteries carried air instead of blood. The word artery may come from an old Greek word for windpipe.
  • Your pulse is not your heart itself. It is an artery wall stretching with each wave of blood.
  • The middle layer of an artery is muscle. It can squeeze to make the tube narrower or relax to make it wider.
  • When you get hot, small arteries near your skin get wider to let heat out. That is one reason your cheeks go pink after running.
  • Most arteries are tucked deeper inside your body than veins, which helps keep them safe.

💚 Look after it

  • Play every day. Moving keeps your arteries stretchy and healthy.
  • Eat fruits, vegetables and whole grains, and go easy on salty snacks.
  • Keep away from cigarette smoke and vapes.

🙋 Questions kids ask

Why can I feel a pulse but not see it?

Arteries are usually under muscle and skin. You can feel the stretch with your fingers, but in most places it is too small to see.

Is the blood in arteries always red?

Yes, blood is always red. Most arteries carry bright red blood full of oxygen. The pulmonary artery carries darker red blood to the lungs.

What is blood pressure?

It is how hard your blood pushes on the walls of your arteries. A soft cuff on your arm can measure it.

🧠 Quick quiz

Question 1 of 3Which way do arteries carry blood?

🔗 It works with

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