It needs to get oxygen and nutrients from the top to the bottom of your body and it manages this with the help of the body’s circulatory system. The body has a network of blood vessels that carry blood around. The way it works is quite similar to how traffic runs on the roads. To keep traffic running smoothly, all the traffic travelling in the same direction will travel on the same part of the road and the same goes for blood vessels. Arteries travel in one direction, veins in the other. What are arteries? Arteries are the large vessels that carry blood through the heart, around to every part of your body. The blood that arteries carry from the lungs is full of oxygen. As they get closer to the surface or into smaller spaces, blood is transferred into microscopic vessels called capilliaries. When the blood has released its oxygen, it returns back to the lungs and heart through veins. What are veins? If you could see the blood in your veins, it would look a lot darker than it was in your arteries. The movement of the blood through the heart and around the body is called circulation – and your heart is really good at this. Find out more about the heart at: http://www.funkidslive.com/learn/hallux/heart-beat/ Subscribe for more videos like this! Fun Kids is the UK's children's radio station. Tune in on DAB Digital Radio across the UK, on mobile and online at http://www.funkidslive.com Professor Hallux’s Heart Beat is funded thanks to a Heart Research UK Health Heart Grant.