Breathing is the process that moves air in and out of the lungs. [1] Aerobic organisms of these types—such as reptiles, birds and mammals—require oxygen to release energy via respiration, in the form of the metabolism of energy-rich molecules such as glucose. Breathing is only one process that delivers oxygen to where it is needed in the body and removes carbon dioxide. Another important process involves the movement of blood by the circulatory system.[2] Gas exchange occurs in the pulmonary alveoli by passive diffusion of gases between the alveolar gas and the blood in lung capillaries. Once these dissolved gases are in the blood, the heart powers their flow around the body (via the circulatory system). The medical term for normal relaxed breathing is eupnea.
In addition to removing carbon dioxide, breathing results in loss of water from the body. Exhaled air has a relative humidity of 100% because of water diffusing across the moist surface of breathing passages and alveoli.
Contents |
Mechanics [link]
In mammals, breathing in, or inhaling, is due to the contraction and flattening of the diaphragm, a domed muscle that separates thorax and abdomen. If the abdomen is relaxed its volume is increased, and the fall in pressure in the thorax is met by the entry of air. When the diaphragm relaxes air leaves largely by elasticity of the lung. This is quiet, relaxed breathing needing little energy. When need increases the abdominal muscles resist expansion. The increased abdominal pressure then tilts the diaphragm and ribcage upwards with an increase in volume and the entry of air. Expiration follows relaxation of diaphragm and abdominal muscles, but can be increased by downward action of abdominal muscles on the rib cage. This forced expiration increases pressure across the airway's walls and may lead to narrowing and perhaps to wheezing. Intercostal muscles are auxiliary, stiffening and shaping the rib cage. Speech depends on the balance between the two forms of breathing, and in man conscious change often modifies autonomous reaction to need. The pattern can vary with fear in anticipation of need, and so with anxiety, and may be conditioned to experience such as the loss of an inhaler. It is also affected by loss of lung elasticity in age or pulmonary disease, of abdominal expansion from obesity, or of muscle power to resist expansion or to pull the ribcage down.
In amphibians, the process used is positive pressure breathing. Muscles lower the floor of the oral cavity, enlarging it and drawing in air through the nostrils (which uses the same mechanics - pressure, volume, and diffusion - as a mammalian lung). With the nostrils and mouth closed, the floor of the oral cavity is forced up, which forces air down the trachea into the lungs.
Control of breathing [link]
Breathing is one of the few bodily functions which, within limits, can be controlled both consciously and unconsciously.
Conscious control [link]
Conscious control of breathing is common in many forms of meditation, specifically forms of yoga for example pranayama[3] unlike anapana which is only awareness of breath. In swimming, cardio fitness, speech or vocal training, one learns to discipline one's breathing, initially consciously but later sub-consciously, for purposes other than life support. Human speech is also dependent on conscious breath control. Also breathing control is used in Buteyko method.
Unconscious control [link]
Unconsciously, breathing is controlled by specialized centers in the brainstem, which automatically regulate the rate and depth of breathing depending on the body’s needs at any time. When carbon dioxide levels increase in the blood, it reacts with the water in blood, producing carbonic acid. Lactic acid produced by fermentation during exercise also lowers pH. The drop in the blood's pH stimulates chemoreceptors in the carotid and aortic bodies as well as those inside the respiratory center in the medulla oblongata. Chemoreceptors send more nerve impulses to the respiration centre in the medulla oblongata and pons in the brain. These, in turn send nerve impulses through the phrenic and thoracic nerves to the diaphragm.
Examples [link]
For instance, while exercising, the level of carbon dioxide in the blood increases due to increased cellular respiration by the muscles, which activates carotid and aortic bodies and the respiration center, which ultimately cause a higher rate of respiration.
During rest, the level of carbon dioxide is lower, so breathing rate is lower. This ensures an appropriate amount of oxygen is delivered to the muscles and other organs. It is important to reiterate that it is the buildup of carbon dioxide making the blood acidic that elicits the desperation for a breath much more than lack of oxygen.
Interaction [link]
It is not possible for a healthy person to voluntarily stop breathing indefinitely. If one does not inhale, the level of carbon dioxide builds up in the blood, and one experiences overwhelming air hunger. This irrepressible reflex is not surprising given that without breathing, the body's internal oxygen levels drop dangerously low within minutes, leading to permanent brain damage followed eventually by death. However, there have been instances where people have survived for as long as two hours without air; this is only possible when submerged in cold water, as this triggers the mammalian diving reflex[4] as well as putting the subject into a state of suspended animation.
If a healthy person were to voluntarily stop breathing (i.e. hold his or her breath) for a long enough amount of time, he or she would lose consciousness, and the body would resume breathing on its own. Because of this one cannot commit suicide with this method, unless one's breathing was also restricted by something else (e.g. water, see drowning).
Hyperventilating causes a drop in CO2 below normal levels, lowering blood and oxygen supply to vital organs due to CO2-induced vasoconstriction and suppressed Bohr effect. Voluntary hyperventilation can cause tissue oxygen levels to go to dangerously low levels leading to, for example, fainting due to brain hypoxia.
Breathing in gas [link]
 |
This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability. |
Components [link]
Oxygen is the essential component of all breathing gases.
The air we inhale is roughly composed of (by volume):
In addition to air, underwater divers often breathe oxygen-rich or helium-rich gas mixtures. Oxygen and analgesic gases are sometimes given to patients under medical care. The atmosphere in space suits is pure oxygen. Also our reliance on this relatively small amount of oxygen can cause overactivity or euphoria in pure or oxygen-rich environments.
The permanent gases in gas we exhale are roughly 4% to 5% more carbon dioxide and 4% to 5% less oxygen than was inhaled. This expired air typically composted of:
- 78% nitrogen
- 13.6% - 16% Oxygen
- 4% - 5.3% Carbon dioxide
- 1% Argon and other gases
Additionally vapors and trace gases are present: 5% water vapor, several parts per million (ppm) of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, 1 part per million (ppm) of ammonia and less than 1 ppm of acetone, methanol, ethanol (unless ethanol has been ingested, in which case much higher concentrations would occur in the breath, cf. Breathalyzer) and other volatile organic compounds. Oxygen is used by the body for cellular respiration and other uses, and carbon dioxide is a product of these processes. The exact amount of exhaled oxygen and carbon dioxide when breathing and the amount of gases exhaled may vary based on diet, exercise and fitness.
Air pressure [link]
Atmospheric air at altitude is at a lower pressure than at sea level due to the lesser weight of the air above. This lower pressure can lead to altitude sickness, or hypoxia.
Gases breathed underwater are at higher pressure than at sea level due to the added weight of water. This can lead to nitrogen narcosis, oxygen toxicity, or decompression sickness.
Cultural significance [link]
In t'ai chi ch'uan, aerobic training is combined with breathing to exercise the diaphragm muscles and to train effective posture, which both make better use of the body's energy. In music, breath is used to play wind instruments and many aerophones. Laughter, physically, is simply repeated sharp breaths. Hiccups, yawns, and sneezes are other breath-related phenomena.
Ancients commonly linked the breath to a life force. The Hebrew Bible refers to God breathing the breath of life into clay to make Adam a living soul (nephesh). It also refers to the breath as returning to God when a mortal dies. The terms "spirit," "qi," "prana" and "psyche"[5] are related to the concept of breath.
Common phrases in English relate to breathing e.g. "catch my breath", "took my breath away".
See also [link]
References [link]
- ^ Peter Raven, George Johnson, Kenneth Mason, Jonathan Losos, Susan Singer (2007). "The capture of oxygen: Respiration". Biology (8 ed. ed.). McGraw-Hill Science/Engineering/Math;. ISBN 0-07-322739-0.
- ^ Kevin T. Patton, Gary A. Thibodeau (2009). Anatomy & Physiology (7 edition ed.). Mosby. ISBN 0-323-05532-X.
- ^ Swami Saradananda, The Power of Breath, Castle House: Duncan Baird Publishers, 2009
- ^ Ramey CA, Ramey DN, Hayward JS. Dive response of children in relation to cold-water near drowning. J Appl Physiol 2001;62(2):665-8.Source: Diana Hacker (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2002).Adapted from Victoria E. McMillan (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2001). See it cited here
- ^ psych-, psycho-, -psyche, -psychic, -psychical, -psychically + (Greek: mind, spirit, consciousness; mental processes; the human soul; breath of life)
- Parkes M (2006). "Breath-holding and its breakpoint". Exp Physiol 91 (1): 1–15. DOI:10.1113/expphysiol.2005.031625. PMID 16272264. Full text
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
https://wn.com/Breathing
Breath (Breaking Benjamin song)
"Breath" is the second single and the third track from post-grunge/alternative metal band Breaking Benjamin's third album, Phobia. It was the band's fourth charted song on the U.S. Hot 100 overall, and the second from Phobia. Although "Breath" failed to capture the pop success of The Diary of Jane at #50 where "Breath" hit #84 on the Billboard Hot 100, it was more successful on the rock charts where it hit #1 on the US Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, making it Breaking Benjamin's first number-one hit staying there for seven weeks where "The Diary of Jane" hit #2 and it also hit #3 on the US Modern Rock Tracks chart tying with So Cold as their highest-charting single on the chart where "The Diary of Jane" hit #4.
A contest was held in which fans create a music video for "Breath", called the Breath Fan Video Contest, and the band and label selected 4 videos as finalists. The winning video was officially released March 30, 2008 on YouTube. The video can also be seen at the band's official site. The single was eventually certified platinum by the RIAA in 2015.
Breath (disambiguation)
A breath is the act of inhaling and exhaling.
Breath might also refer to:
See also
Boars in heraldry
The wild boar and boar's head are common charges in heraldry. A complete beast may represent what are seen as the positive qualities of the wild boar, namely courage and fierceness in battle; a boar's head may represent hospitality (from the custom of serving the boar's head in feasts), or it may symbolize that the bearer of the arms is a noted hunter.
In classical heraldry of the late medieval and early modern period, the boar is somewhat rarer than the lion, eagle or bear. A notable example from the late medieval period is the white boar of Richard III of England (1452–1485). The boar appears frequently on coats of arms of towns or cities designed in modern times. More rare than the boar is the sow or female pig (often shown as suckling piglets), found on some municipal coats of arms such as that of Albano Laziale.
Early history
The boar was used as an emblem in some instances during antiquity and the early medieval period (i.e. predating the development of classical European heraldry). During the Roman Empire, at least three legions are known to have had a boar as their emblems - Legio I Italica, Legio X Fretensis and Legio XX Valeria Victrix. The Knocknagael Boar Stone is a well-known Pictish stone with a depiction of a boar emblem dating to ca. the 7th century. In this context, the name of Orkney is interpreted as being derived from orc-, the Celtic for "pig", presumably from a Pictish tribe which had the boar or wild pig as their emblem. The boar also appears to have been used as an emblem during the Viking Age, reflected in the mythological boar Gullinbursti, a representation of the god Freyr, and in Hildisvíni ("battle pig"), the boar of the goddess Freya, and also mentioned in Beowulf as a figure of a boar worn in battle on the crest of a helmet.
BOAR
The Bombardment Aircraft Rocket, also known as BOAR, the Bureau of Ordnance Aircraft Rocket, and officially as the 30.5-Inch Rocket, Mark 1, Mod 0, was an unguided air-to-surface rocket developed by the United States Navy's Naval Ordnance Test Station during the 1950s. Intended to provide a standoff nuclear capability for carrier-based aircraft, the rocket entered operational service in 1956, remaining in service until 1963.
Design and development
Following a specification developed during 1951, the development of the BOAR rocket was started in 1952 at the Naval Ordnance Test Station (NOTS), located at China Lake, California. The project was intended to provide a simple means of extending the stand-off range of nuclear weapons delivered using the toss bombing technique, as some slower aircraft still faced marginal escape conditions when delivering ordinary gravity bombs even with the use of this technique.
The rocket that emerged from the development process used a single, solid-fueled rocket motor mated to the W7 nuclear weapon, which had a yield of 20 kilotons of TNT (84 TJ). This provided a stand-off range of 7.5 miles (12.1 km) when released in a steep climb, the aircraft then completing the toss-bombing pullout to escape the blast; the rocket, lacking guidance, would follow a ballistic trajectory to impact following rocket burnout.
Balloon
A balloon is a flexible bag that can be inflated with a gas, such as helium, hydrogen, nitrous oxide, oxygen, or air. Modern day balloons are made from materials such as rubber, latex, polychloroprene, or a nylon fabric, and can come in many colors. Some early balloons were made of dried animal bladders, such as the pig bladder. Some balloons are used for decorative purposes, while others are used for practical purposes such as meteorology, medical treatment, military defense, or transportation. A balloon's properties, including its low density and low cost, have led to a wide range of applications.
The rubber balloon was invented by Michael Faraday in 1824, during experiments with various gases.
Applications
Decoration or entertainment
Party balloons are mostly made of a natural latex tapped from rubber trees, and can be filled with air, helium, water, or any other suitable liquid or gas. The rubber's elasticity makes the volume adjustable. As shown in the photo to the right, they can come in different colors like the rainbow such as red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, etc.
Balloon (game)
Balloon, balloon-ball or wind-ball was a game similar to the modern game of volleyball in which a leather ball would be batted by the fist or forearm to prevent it from touching the ground. The game was played in ancient Rome where it was known as follis — the Latin word for a leather bag. Such a ball made of leather was quite heavy and so protection might be used such as a leather gauntlet or wooden bracer. When rubber became available from the New World, the game was played using lighter balls of inflated rubber and so younger boys could play too.
