Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The respiratory system (also respiratory apparatus, ventilatory system) is a biological system consisting of specific organs and structures used for gas exchange in animals and plants. The anatomy and physiology that make this happen varies greatly, depending on the size of the organism, the environment in which it lives and its evolutionary ...
In mammals, physiological respiration involves respiratory cycles of inhaled and exhaled breaths. Inhalation (breathing in) is usually an active movement that brings air into the lungs where the process of gas exchange takes place between the air in the alveoli and the blood in the pulmonary capillaries.
Yawning is considered a non-respiratory gas movement. A non-respiratory gas movement is another process that moves air in and out of the lungs that do not include breathing. Yawning is a reflex that tends to disrupt the normal breathing rhythm and is believed to be contagious as well. [14] The reason why we yawn is unknown.
The breathing of all vertebrates with lungs consists of repetitive cycles of inhalation and exhalation through a highly branched system of tubes or airways which lead from the nose to the alveoli. [4] The number of respiratory cycles per minute is the breathing or respiratory rate, and is one of the four primary vital signs of life. [5]
Breathing is normally an unconscious, involuntary, automatic process. The pattern of motor stimuli during breathing can be divided into an inhalation stage and an exhalation stage. Inhalation shows a sudden, ramped increase in motor discharge to the respiratory muscles (and the pharyngeal constrictor muscles). [5]
pulmonary fibrosis, Infant Respiratory Distress Syndrome, weak respiratory muscles, pneumothorax: volumes are decreased: often in a normal range (0.8–1.0) obstructive diseases: asthma, COPD, emphysema: volumes are essentially normal but flow rates are impeded: often low (asthma can reduce the ratio to 0.6, emphysema can reduce the ratio to 0. ...
The lungs can be included in the lower respiratory tract or as separate entity and include the respiratory bronchioles, alveolar ducts, alveolar sacs, and alveoli. [3] Adult and pediatric airway anatomy. The respiratory tract can also be divided into a conducting zone and a respiratory zone, based on the distinction of transporting gases or ...
Inhalation of air, as part of the cycle of breathing, is a vital process for all human life. The process is autonomic (though there are exceptions in some disease states) and does not need conscious control or effort. However, breathing can be consciously controlled or interrupted (within limits).