Is Systole A Contraction Or Relaxation?

Is Systole A Contraction Or Relaxation? Systole is the contraction phase of the cardiac cycle, and diastole is the relaxation phase. At a normal heart rate, one cardiac cycle lasts for 0.8 second. Is systole the contraction phase? The cardiac cycle is essentially split into two phases, systole (the contraction phase) and diastole (the relaxation