Health & Living
Respiratory System
The respiratory system is responsible for breathing in oxygen and breathing out carbon dioxide. Inhalation and exhalation of these gases take place due to pressure gradients between the body and the environment. By maintaining healthy levels of carbon dioxide and oxygen, the respiratory system ensures that the body can perform daily functions.
Many organs and structures make up the airway, the path that air follows for gas exchange. The airway is made up of the nose, pharynx, larynx, trachea, bronchi, bronchioles, alveoli, and lungs. The airway is divided into the respiratory and conducting division. The conducting division moves air through the airway while the respiratory division exchanges gases based on pressure gradients. Gas exchange takes place through the mechanism of diffusion, the movement of molecules from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration. Oxygen moves into the body because oxygen has a higher concentration in the atmosphere than in the bloodstream. Carbon dioxide moves out of the body because it has a higher concentration in the bloodstream than the atmosphere.
What is a normal respiratory rate?
Respiration is defined as a single cycle of inhalation and exhalation. To ensure metabolic function, the body needs to maintain a respiratory rate of 12-20 breaths per minute. Hyperventilation occurs when the respiratory rate exceeds the normal respiratory rate and hypoventilation occurs when the respiratory rate is lower than normal.
The Swimmer's Benefit from Hyperventilating
Hyperventilating, also known as fast breathing, causes carbon dioxide to be expelled faster than the body can produce. By expelling a high amount of carbon dioxide, the body decreases the reflex to exhale. This is beneficial to a swimmer, who must hold their breath for an extensive period of time in order to swim fast.
How to Hyperventilate
Quiet breathing requires the contraction and relaxation of the principle respiratory muscles such as the diaphragm and external intercostals. To force inspiration, the sternocleidomastoid, scalenes, pectoralis minor, and internal intercostals are contracted. To force expiration, relax the rectus abdominis and external abdominal oblique. Forcing inspiration and expiration at fast rates expels carbon dioxide faster than the body can compensate and will reduce the need to exhale.
The Athlete's Benefit from Training at High Altitudes
At a higher altitude, the partial pressure of oxygen is lower. The short term effect of the atmospherical change is that the respiratory rate will increase as an adaptation to recieve more oxygen. The long term effect is that red blood cell production increases. This causes the kidney to secrete erythropoieten, a hormone that stimulate the production of red blood cells. The erythropoieten is recieved by the red bone marrow, where erythropoiesis takes place. The increase in red blood cells allowsmore oxygen to be introduced into the body. When athletes train at higher altitude, their body will change due to the change in environment. The long term affect of having more red blood cells and training at a thiner atmosphe is to make the same excercises and training easier atsea level.
How the Airway Keeps You Healthy
The airway needs many forms of immunity since it moves air from the outside into the body. The body first prevents pathogens from causing damage through the vibrissae. Vibrissae are thick guard hairs located in the vestibule that trap any foreign particles present in the inhaled air. From the vibrissae, any other foreign particles are trapped by the mucus that lines the airway. The thick consistency prevents pathogens from traveling further down the airway and the mucus is released from the body through coughing or sneezing. Mucus is produced by goblet cells in the respiratory epithelium. Most of the airway is made up of pseudostratified columnar cells that contain cilia, which helps move the mucus and the pathogens trapped within it. If any other debris can move past these forms of immunity, alveolar macrophages in the alveoli, ingest the pathogens and prevent them from circulating into the body.
