Respiratory system

Oxygen, the giver of life on our planet.  Without it we would be a planet void of any of the wonderful and beautiful things we have now.  Almost every living thing on the planet has to have oxygen in some way to survive.  Even our water contains oxygen that fish use to survive.  So let’s take a look at the human respiratory system and how it helps us.

Most people only think of our lungs being the source of our breathing but our respiratory system is actually much more than that.  Our sinuses are the start of the process of breathing as they help control the temperature and humidity of the air entering our lungs.  After the sinuses have done their job, the air passes through our trachea (windpipe) which helps to filter the air a little and divides it up into the 2 different lungs via bronchial tubes which collect the mucus from the air (mucus that was made by the filtering process).  And from there the filtered and oxygenated air is moved into our blood stream with the process reversed for the release of the carbon dioxide.

Our respiratory system is also dual controlled meaning, we do it both consciously and unconsciously.  Only a few other critters out there can do the same, i.e. whales and dolphins.  It seems odd that we can control one of the functions needed to maintain life but not others, like our heart rate, but because it is a dual control system, our brain can take over if we try to hold our breath too long.

Having a dual control of our breathing is actually very beneficial to us, because it allows us to do things that, if we had no control of the breathing, we wouldn’t or couldn’t do, i.e. swimming under water.  By being able to control our breaths, we can make ourselves slow down and relax when we are in a tense situation, and control how angry or upset we might become.  Slowing down our breathing allows us to lower our blood pressure (something to think about when you go to the doctor, and he has to take a reading).

Well now you’ve learned a bit about how our respiratory system works and why it’s important to maintain it and keep it functioning properly.  Without our lungs we wouldn’t be able to survive to enjoy this wonderful planet we live on.