Bleeding facts for kids

Bleeding, also known as hemorrhaging, is when blood escapes from your circulatory system. This is the network of blood vessels that carries blood all around your body.

Bleeding can happen inside your body (internal bleeding) or outside your body (external bleeding). External bleeding can be seen through a natural opening like your mouth or nose, or through a cut in your skin.

What is Bleeding?

Bleeding means that blood is leaving your blood vessels. Your blood vessels are like tiny tubes that carry blood to every part of your body. When these tubes get damaged, blood can leak out.

Types of Bleeding

There are two main types of bleeding:

Internal Bleeding

Internal bleeding happens when blood leaks from blood vessels inside your body. You can't usually see this type of bleeding. It might happen if you get a strong hit or injury to your body, like from a fall.

External Bleeding

External bleeding is when blood comes out of your body. This can happen in a few ways:

• Through a natural opening, like when your nose bleeds or you bite your lip.
• Through a break in your skin, like a cut, scrape, or wound.

How Much Blood Can You Lose?

Losing a lot of blood is called major blood loss. If someone loses too much blood, it can be very serious and even cause death. A person doesn't need to lose all their blood to be in danger; losing about half to two-thirds of their total blood can be life-threatening.

However, your body can handle losing a small amount of blood without serious problems. For example, when someone donates blood, they usually give about 8-10% of their total blood volume. A healthy person can often lose 10-15% of their blood without major medical issues.

What Happens When You Bleed?

When you get a cut, your body has amazing ways to stop the bleeding. Tiny parts of your blood called platelets rush to the injury and stick together to form a plug. Then, special proteins in your blood create a net-like structure called a blood clot, which helps seal the wound and stop more blood from escaping.

Images for kids

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  This image shows tiny parts of the lung under a microscope. The dark brown spots are cells that have collected iron from old blood, which happens after bleeding in the lungs.

See also

In Spanish: Hemorragia para niños