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Breathing is how we move oxygen around our bodies, and move carbon dioxide out of our systems.
The oxygen in our lungs is bound to red blood cells, and when we breathe, our blood stream transports these cells around our body. The
oxygen and glucose are broken down during a process called ?glycosis', to produce carbon dioxide and water, which the body then gets rid of.
Glycosis, and the 'fuel' it creates is essential for cell function and survival. The body has large spare stores of glucose, but not of oxygen.
Therefore if our breathing stops, tissue injury can occur very quickly.
How does breathing work?
We use our
"breathing apparatus to breathe. This consists of the airways
(nose, throat, windpipe and the bronchial trees, which pass air
into the lungs), the rib cage, the breathing muscles (diaphragm and
chest wall muscles) and the lungs.
Our brains send regular messages along our spinal cords and
peripheral nerves to our breathing muscles. Our muscles respond to
these
messages and increase their activity, decreasing the volume of the
chest and moving air in and out of the lungs. When air has moved in
to the lungs through the bronchial trees, oxygen diffuses into the
blood stream, and carbon dioxide moves from the blood stream into
our airway, and out of the body. This process is known as ?gas
exchange.
| How is ventilation
controlled? Neural sensors in the brain monitor the amounts of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the blood. The amount of air that is inhaled with each breath is called Tidal Volume (TV). The Respiratory Rate (RR) and the Tidal Volume determine the Minute Ventilation (MV). TV (ml) x RR (min-1)= MV (ml x min-1)
How does breathing change with age? What is hypoventilation? |
|---|
In medicine, "hypo" means "below" and "ventilation" means
"breathing". So hypoventilation means "under-breathing". In certain
circumstances, such as when people aren't fully conscious, and in
central hypoventilation syndromes our body's respiratory drive can
become too low to
allow normal rates of gas exchange. This can lead to decreased
levels of oxygen (hypoxaemia), and increased levels of carbon
dioxide in the blood (hypercapnia or hypercarbia). This imbalance
can be damaging to the brain, heart and lungs, especially in babies
and young children whose organs are still developing.
Hypoventilation can be caused by diseases of the muscles, lungs,
upper airways and the brain, particularly in the deep brain
structures, known as the ?brainstem'.
