Breathing

Breathing (respiration[1] or ventilation) is the rhythmic process of moving air into (inhalation) and out of (exhalation) the lungs to enable gas exchange with the internal environment, primarily to remove carbon dioxide and take in oxygen.

All aerobic organisms require oxygen for cellular respiration, which extracts energy from food and produces carbon dioxide as a waste product. External respiration (breathing) brings air to the alveoli where gases move by diffusion; the circulatory system then transports oxygen and carbon dioxide between the lungs and the tissues.[2][3]

In vertebrates with lungs, breathing consists of repeated cycles of inhalation and exhalation through a branched system of airways that conduct air from the nose or mouth to the alveoli.[4] The number of respiratory cycles per minute — the respiratory or breathing rate — is a primary vital sign.[5] Under normal conditions, depth and rate of breathing are controlled unconsciously by homeostatic mechanisms that maintain arterial partial pressures of carbon dioxide and oxygen. Keeping arterial CO₂ stable helps maintain extracellular fluid pH; hyperventilation and hypoventilation alter CO₂ and thus pH and produce distressing symptoms.

Breathing also supports speech, laughter and certain reflexes (yawning, coughing, sneezing) and can contribute to thermoregulation (for example, panting in animals that cannot sweat sufficiently).

  1. ^ "Definition of SPIRATION". www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
  2. ^ Hall, John (2011). Guyton and Hall Textbook of Medical Physiology (12th ed.). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Saunders/Elsevier. p. 5. ISBN 978-1-4160-4574-8.
  3. ^ Pocock, Gillian; Richards, Christopher D. (2006). Human physiology: the basis of medicine (3rd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 311. ISBN 978-0-19-856878-0.
  4. ^ Pocock, Gillian; Richards, Christopher D. (2006). Human physiology: the basis of medicine (3rd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 320. ISBN 978-0-19-856878-0.
  5. ^ "Vital Signs 101". Johns Hopkins Medicine. 14 June 2022.
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