Understanding Your Respiratory System

You can think of the respiratory system as your oxygen delivery system!  It’s primary function within the body is to bring oxygen to the blood – so that the blood supply can deliver the oxygen to all the parts of the body.  Each time you take a breath, the oxygen enters your respiratory system and carbon dioxide is exhaled out of the body.  The exchange of gases is what the respiratory system uses to move the oxygen to the bloodstream.

Oxygen enters your respiratory system through your mouth and nose.  It moves through your larynx and trachea.  Your trachea is a tube that travels from your throat area into your chest cavity.  Once the oxygen moves through the trachea into the chest, the trachea splits into two small tubes that are called the bronchi.  The bronchi are divided into even smaller bronchial tubes that go directly to the lungs.  Within the lungs, there are even more tubes, which are connected to alveoli – which are the 600 million tiny, spongy, air-filled sacs found in the capillaries of an adult body.  Children have less alveoli as they develop as children age, and breathe at a faster rate than adults.  Women also breathe faster than men on average.

Inhaled oxygen travels into the alveoli and then goes into the capillaries, which sends the oxygen into the arterial blood.  While this is happening, carbon dioxide and waste-filled blood will move from the veins into the alveoli, following the same path the clean oxygen took to get back out of your body as you exhale.

Part of the respiratory system includes the diaphragm.  The diaphragm is located in the bottom of the chest cavity, and is basically a sheet of muscles.  It’s purpose is to help pump out the carbon dioxide, and to pull in the fresh oxygen to the lungs.  The muscles of the diaphragm contract and relax to generate the act of breathing.

The role of oxygen in our bodies is an important one.  The oxygen makes it possible to pull energy from the foods we eat and to carry out chemical processes that happen around the clock within our bodies.

Interesting facts about your respiratory system:

• There are hairs inside your nose that help remove pollutants from the air you breathe in.  The hair also serves to warm the air slightly.
• The right lung is a little bigger than the left lung.
• The capillaries inside your lungs would extend 1,600 kilometers if they were spread out end to end!
• People who are relaxed generally breathe 12 to 15 times per minute.
• The surface area of lungs, if they were unfolded, is about the same size as a tennis court.
• People lose half a liter of water each day through normal breathing.  To see this in action, breathe into a glass and watch the water vapors form.