Imagine this for a minute. The alarm clock you depend on fails to go off and you wake up terribly late. You have 10 minutes to get dressed, eat and get to the bus stop. You start rushing, frantic to get everything done. You slip your shoes on, grab your stuff and book it through the door. 3 minutes left. Like your life depended on it, you begin sprinting all out down the street. Finally, you’re happy to see that you made it at the last second.
These situations happen all the time and you should be thankful that you have an amazing body that allows you to get through them so swiftly. Without a doubt, your body is by far the most intricate and complex machine ever designed. But for the sake of time and space, for this article we want to focus on the function of one system: the respiratory system functions.
You have your respiratory system to thank for allowing you to catch that bus on time. As soon as you started sprinting down that road, your braing instantly signaled your respiratory system to start working harder. You started breathing heavier as your working muscles instantly required more oxygen. The drastic boost in oxygen intake resulted in higher diffusion of O2 into your blood stream and into your muscles, allowing for greater quantities of energy to be created. Energy you, conveniently, used to make it to the bus stop in time.
It is a good idea to have a general understanding of the respiratory system functions if you want to learn how to optimize it. For example, strengthening your abdominal and intercostal muscles will strengthen your respiratory system because these muscles assist with bringing in oxygen.
The little hairs called cilia that line your bronchial trees and nasal cavity need to be healthy to prevent any bacteria or viruses from entering. Smoking kills cilia – so kill the habit.
Don’t ever miss your bus by maintaining good functions of the respiratory system!
