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Home > breathing-glossary
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Breathing
Breathing is when air is brought in and out of the lungs. See Respiration.
Inhaling ambient air or oxygen provides the oxygen the cells in the body need to live via the circulatory system. Oxygen is one of the most important needs of the body and the cells that make it up, and it is the building block for the energy required for it to function. The waste product carbon dioxide (CO2) is brought to the lungs from these same cells by the blood and removed from the body during an exhale. If carbon dioxide is not expelled from the body appropriately, it accumulates in the blood and causes sickness and eventually death. The respiratory system maintains this balance.
Breathing can be voluntary but is most often an automatic response sent by signals from the brain.
Entering the body through the nose or the mouth, air is passed into the trachea, commonly called the windpipe, where it continues to the lungs via bronchi and their smaller counterparts bronchioles. The lungs are located in the chest beneath the rib cage.
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