Respiratory System

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The Lungs

4.4     A right and a left lung are located in the chest cavity. They have a spongy appearance resembling a plastic bag with lots of bubble like holes. The lungs are the only organ in the body that can float by themselves. Below the lungs is a sheet of large muscle tissue, the diaphragm, which separates the chest cavity from the abdominal cavity. It is the dome-shaped chief muscle in the respiratory process. The two tubes known as bronchi connect the windpipe to each lung. The bronchi are subdivided many times forming smaller and smaller passages, the smallest of which is known as bronchioles. At the end of each bronchiole is a cluster of tiny air sacs or pockets called the alveoli, which look like a bunch of grapes. Both lungs contain about 300 million alveoli with a large surface area. If all the alveoli could be spread flat, they would cover an area equal to the size of a tennis court. The walls of the alveoli are covered with tiny capillaries through which blood can easily pass into the blood stream. Oxygen passes from the alveoli into these capillaries for delivery to the body‘s cells. Simultaneously, carbon dioxide in the blood stream moves from the capillaries into the alveoli, where it is expelled from the lungs. This simultaneous exchange of the gases is called respiration. Some air always stays in the lungs. Otherwise the lungs would collapse.

 Breathing

4.5     Air moves into and out of the lungs with every breath. When a person inhales, the dome-shaped diaphragm contracts, flattens and moves downwards, the rib muscles expand and enlarge the chest cavity upwards and outwards, oxygen-rich air rushes into the lungs, and the alveoli expand as they fill with air and lungs increase in size. When a person exhales, the diaphragm relaxes, becomes dome-shaped again and moves upwards and the rib muscles relax, the chest cavity becomes smaller, and carbon-dioxide-rich air is pushed out of the lungs, which become smaller. The muscles in the abdominal wall also contract to push the abdominal organs upwards against the diaphragm thereby aiding to push the air out of the lungs. This respiration process is automatic and is regulated by the respiratory control centre in the brain stem. In an adult the respiration rate is about 12-20 times a minute. Exercise increases the respiration speed, as our body cells are working hard and need more oxygen. Faster and deeper breathing allows oxygen to be pumped into the blood stream more swiftly from the lungs.

4.6     Why do People Yawn? — Even when people breathe normally, not all the alveoli are filled with oxygen-rich air. That means that some blood may pass through the lungs without getting sufficient oxygen. It is thought that this low blood-oxygen concentration triggers a yawn reflex. Yawning causes a person to take a deep breath, which makes more oxygen available to the alveoli and increases the blood-oxygen concentration.

Santokh Singh Parmar

Naturo-Food Therapist & Lifestyle Consultant

Mobile: +91(0) 9815922330

Websites: www.naturofoodtherapy.org & www.foodtherapy.org

Note: The above information and advice and indicative remedies are not a substitute for the advice, your doctor or naturo-food therapist may give you based on his/her knowledge of yourself.