Respiratory system

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The basic function of the respiratory system is to supply blood along with oxygen, so that blood can deliver the oxygen to other body parts. The process of respiratory system works through breathing. As we breathe, we inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide. This exchange is the respiratory system's way to get the oxygen to the blood.

Respiratory System

Airways

They are the pipes which carry oxygen-rich air to your lungs and throw carbon dioxide which is waste gas out of your lungs. The airways have:

• Mouth
• Larynx or voice box
• Nose and linked air passages (called nasal cavities)
• Tubes known as bronchial tubes or bronchi and their branches
• Trachea or windpipe

There is a link between the lungs and vessels of blood that delivers oxygen, and eliminates carbon dioxide from the body. The lungs are located on either side of the breastbone and filled inside the chest cavity. The left lung is comparatively smaller than the right lung which allows space for the heart.

Within the lungs, your bronchi branch are some smaller or larger tubes called bronchioles. These tubes end in bunches of tiny round air sacs known as alveoli.

Breathing Muscles

Muscles near the lungs expand and contract the lungs, allowing you to breathe. These muscles have:

• Abdominal muscles
• Muscles in the neck and collarbone area
• Diaphragm
• Intercostals muscles

The diaphragm has the shape like arena and is located below the lungs. It differentiates the cavity of the chest with the abdominal cavity. It is the necessary muscle used for breathing.

Bronchi, veins supplying deoxygenated blood and removing oxygenated blood, pulmonary arteries, bronchial arteries and veins supplying oxygenated blood to the substance of the lung itself. Lymph nodes are blackened by soot particles and are often seen and the substance of the lung can get blackened by soot in city dwellers or heavy smokers.

Protecting Respiratory System

Triphala is the herb which is good to increase the immunity of the body. It acts as a powerful checker which does not let any foreign particle to attack the body and by any chance if it gets in the body, it eradicates the particle and protects the body from its harmful after effects. The trachea can be also known as the windpipe. It filters the air which we breathe and branches into the bronchi.

Process of Respiratory System

The respiration process is done through the nose, trachea, mouth, lungs and diaphragm. The oxygen enters though the mouth and nose. Then it passes through larynx which is the place where sound is produced and then to the trachea which is the tube entering the cavity of the chest. In this cavity, the trachea has further small tubes which are known as bronchi that are connected to the lungs that divide into many small tubes, connecting to the tiny sacs known as alveoli.

Usually, people have nearly 600 million of spongy, air filled sacs surrounded by capillaries. The oxygen which is inhaled then passes to the alveoli diffusing through the capillaries in the arterial blood. The remaining waste blood then goes from the veins, releasing the carbon dioxide in the alveoli. Then the carbon dioxide follows the lungs’ path to get out while exhaling.

The diaphragm helps to pump the carbon dioxide out of the lungs, pulling the oxygen in the lungs. It is a muscle sheet lying across the chest cavity’s bottom. When the diaphragm contracts and relaxes, the breathing process takes place and oxygen is pulled into the lungs. When the diaphragm relaxes, carbon dioxide gets pumped out of the lungs.

Remember in the respiratory system, respiration is equal to the breathing whose aim is to deliver the oxygen to the body and eliminate carbon dioxide.