Breathing

 

Breathing is the process by which air is introduced from the outside environment into lungs and at the same time air in lungs is immediately eliminated. The breathing muscular system allows to modify the intrapulmonary pressure to create an air movement. The breathing cellular system allows selective gas exchange. So, breathing is a phenomenon with two components: mechanical and physiological. There are two commonly ventilation phases: inspiration and expiration.
Inspiration.
During this stage the air is introduced into the lung tissues by the contraction of inspiratory muscles (primarily the diaphragm by a down contraction, in addition there is also scalene and intercostal muscles). This phase is active because it involves muscle contraction to create a negative pressure by increasing lung volume which will allow air to penetrate from the external environment (high pressure) to the internal environment (low pressure). The air contains oxygen and nitrogen which penetrate into the lungs cavity and comes into contact with the alveolar barrier by the respiratory tract successively represented by the trachea, lungs trunks, bronchi and bronchioles that finally are directly in contact with the basic structural units of the lungs.
Gas exchanges are constantly performed as air is available in the lungs. The cellular fabric is specialized in absorbing oxygen from the ambient air to the internal environment and remove carbon dioxide from the internal environment to the external environment.
The expiration.
Unlike the inspiration, expiration is a passive phase, which does not necessarily require the actuation of muscle contraction. Indeed, air is removed from itself without effort. This effect is achieved through:
– The elasticity of the lungs tissues that once stretched by the action of the inspiratory muscles returns to its rest dimension immediately after the release of inspiratory muscles.
– The structure of the diaphragm muscle regains its original position automatically after release.
– The weight of the rib cage is subjected to the action of gravity.
Carbon dioxide is removed continuously from the internal environment to the external environment by following the same path during inspiration but in reverse order: alveoli, bronchioles, bronchi, pulmonary trunks, trachea.
The passive expiration can be helped with an active expiration which involves the expiratory muscles represented mainly by the diaphragm and the transversus abdominis muscle. Exhale willfully permits to:
– Complete emptying of the lungs and airways and thus, renewing the residual air with each exhalation
– Massage the organs of the abdominal cavity and the solar plexus with the downward movement of the diaphragm which has a destressing effect and allows the proper functioning of the abdominal cavity organs.
– Activate the blood and lymphatic circulation and thus, better nutrient supply of the cells and elimination of toxins faster and better response of lymphocytes.
– A reflex action on the parasympathetic autonomic nervous system (anti-stress, mental peace, well-being).
– A better supply of oxygen and thus, a better cellular respiration (mitochondrial) removing the maximum exhaust air with each breath. This prevents all kinds of diseases: diabetes, hypertension, neuropathy, inflammatory and degenerative rheumatism, autoimmune diseases, allergies, respiratory diseases, obesity, metabolic syndrome, hypertriglycéridemia, hypercholestérolémia … etc. These diseases have all been ranked among the so-called mitochondrial diseases and they all have a common etiology: cellular asphyxiation (partial or complete) by degeneration of mitochondria.