Breathing (Photo: Nick Fewings)
Before I started researching for this article, all I knew was that we breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon di oxide. This article however aims to go a little further than this fact and tries to explores all the aspects that surround this mechanism and facts of breathing which is at the center of our very survival. So it turns out that what we breathe in and breathe out is not just 2 gases but a mixture of substances. Here are some interesting facts
Anatomy of lungs (Photo: Robina Weermeijer)
- A healthy person has a respiratory rate of 12 to 20 breathes per minute.
- Breathing rate is faster in children and women than in men.
- Adults breathe about 0.4 to 0.5L of air every breath.
- In humans, the right lung is larger than the left lung to accommodate the heart.
- Lung as an organ consumes about 5 to 6ml of oxygen per minute at 28C temperature and this volume increases with rise in temperature.
- When the levels of oxygen go down in the lungs, the brain triggers the body to yawn so large amounts of air can enter the lungs.
- 80% of the air we breathe is nitrogen.
- More than 250 volatile substances found in our breathe.
- Nasal passages harbor microbes which are more closely related to skin microbes than mouth microbes.
- We breathe approximately 104–106 bacteria per cubic meter of air everyday.
Oxygen tank (Photo: Samuel Ramos)
I hope you enjoyed this short read 🙂
Royalty free images were used for this article.
