how do we breathe – Boron Zone

Question: how do we breathe
- Keywords:
  breathe,
  physiology
Asked by paul and james to Áine, Ciarán, Eoin, Lydia, Victoria on 18 Nov 2014.
- Lydia Bach answered on 18 Nov 2014:
  
  Hey Paul and James,
  
  there is a really good video on the BBC showing how we breathe!
  
  http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/how-do-we-breathe/10646.html
  
  Essentially as we breathe in the diaphragm (a muscle sheet on the bottom of the rib cage) tightens and moves downwards, which frees up space in our chest cavity and rib cage muscles also pull the rib cage upward, allowing the lungs to expand in volume.
  
  When air enters the lung, oxygen enters the blood stream through the thin walls of the alveoli (little cave like structures for gas exchange), and passes in the blood stream.
  
  When you breathe out the diaphragm relaxes, moves upwards and forces carbon rich air out of the lungs.
- Ciarán O'Brien answered on 18 Nov 2014:
  
  It’s like Lydia says. 🙂
  
  One of the most interesting things about breathing is that your brain will take care of it automatically, but only until you start thinking about it. Then you have to make your lungs expand and contract all by yourself. and if you try to hold your breath, your brain will eventually over-ride you and force you to start breathing again!
  
  It’s called an autonomic nervous function. Your have loads of them. They keep your heart beating and lungs breathing (and speed them up if your blood needs more oxygen), and they control everything that happens to food in your gut after you swallow it (well, apart from getting rid of it in the loo)! But you can take control of your breathing unlike the others. This makes it a lot easier to speak, because you need to time your breathing carefully to make your voice work (and not to take awkward pauses to breathe in until you’ve finished speaking!) 🙂

Question: how do we breathe

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