Interesting facts about human lungs for children. Interesting facts about the non-respiratory functions of the respiratory system. Where are the dangers of breathing exercises?

will allow you to learn a lot about them. This organ is found in humans, animals, birds, and even some species of fish. Thanks to the perfect structure of the respiratory system, all creatures in the world live.

The name comes from an interesting property. The organ got its name for a reason. It is the only part of the human and animal body that does not sink in water. Other organs do not have this property.
Lungs do a lot of work. It has been established that a person makes about 20-25 thousand breaths and exhalations per day. At the same time, an average of 10 thousand liters of air passes through the body.
Lungs change color throughout life. In a newborn baby, the lung tissue has a pale pink hue. With age, due to the inhalation of dust and other air impurities, the color gradually darkens.
Lungs are needed for more than just breathing.. One of the functions of this part of the body is to protect the heart from possible damage. The organ serves as a kind of cushion, softening blows and shocks.
Lungs are different sizes. The halves of the organ are not at all the same size. The left side is smaller than the right. It consists of two parts, while the second half - of three. This is necessary so that there is room in the chest for the heart.
Lungs are voluminous. The body of ordinary people holds up to 3.5 liters of air at a time, for athletes this figure reaches 7.5 liters. However, the maximum average person fills only 2 thousand ml. And the volume of one inhalation and exhalation is 400-500 ml.
The lungs are a reserve for restoring blood loss. 450 ml of blood is constantly in the body, this is a tenth of its total volume in the body. In case of injury, the lack of this liquid is compensated from the reserve.
Breathing uses many muscles. The lungs themselves do not have the ability to expand or contract. A person breathes due to the work of the abdominal muscles, diaphragm and intercostal muscles. In this case, inhalation and exhalation are performed due to the difference between the pressure inside the organ and atmospheric pressure.
The most dangerous disease is lung cancer. It was found that 95% of people who died from this disease were heavy smokers. Just 1 pack of cigarettes a day increases the risk of a fatal disease.
Organ tissue is made up of protein. Lung health is harmed not only by smoking, but also by alcohol abuse. Ethyl alcohol destroys the membrane of the cells of this most important organ, causing serious illness and premature death.
The lungs are complex. Oxygen enters the blood through microscopic processes - alveoli. They have a spherical shape, which allows you to process a large volume of air entering them. Their total area is 160 square meters, which is comparable to the size of a tennis court.
Large amounts of blood pass through the lungs every day.. The heart accelerates blood over the area of the alveoli and returns it back in just a second and a half. The total weight passing through this organ per day is approximately 7 tons.
The lungs have a functional reserve. At rest, the system is loaded by 3-5% of the maximum allowable value. It is for this reason that a person begins to be disturbed by breathing problems only after the loss of as many as 75% of the tissues of the organ.
The lungs have a supply of air that is not involved in the exchange of gases. Its volume is 150 ml, it is necessary to fill the airways. It is regularly updated with reflexes: deep breaths and yawns.
Lungs become contaminated throughout life. The respiratory system provides the maximum possible purification of air from harmful impurities, dust, soot. However, she cannot fully cope with this task in the conditions of present life. For 60 years, 16 grams of dust, 0.1 grams of metals and 200 grams of chemicals accumulate in the lungs of a city dweller.

I often answer questions about yoga, how to perform asanas correctly, what is needed for this, when is the best time to practice, etc. However, it is interesting that people are not so attentive to their breathing (not all, of course, but often the importance of this issue escapes somewhere). In yoga, breathing practices (pranayama) usually come after asanas (in the classical system: yama - niyama - asana - pranayama ...). Of course, no one forbids practicing pranayama before performing yoga poses, but often the question is more different - during the asanas themselves and in general, in everyday life?

Breathing is closely related to the energy of our body, as well as to the metabolic processes occurring in the body. If a person breathes incorrectly, he can even harm himself. Since ancient times, yogis believed that the quality and duration of our life depends on the quality of our breathing, which is why a deep and detailed system of pranayama was developed.

Today I wanted to talk about interesting facts related to breathing so that you can appreciate the importance of correct breathing and understand what wrong breathing can lead to.

Breathing Miracles Or Known Facts

1. Although breathing saturates our body with oxygen, this is not the only thing. Air contains 21% oxygen, while the body only needs 5%! The whole point is that you need to free the body from carbon dioxide (CO2).

2. If you are used to breathing through your mouth, then over time, this can lead to jaw contraction, which, in turn, turns into crooked teeth (or the return of crooked teeth after you remove the braces).

3. Mouth breathing is one of the main reasons why children develop a lisp when talking.

4. Interestingly, the desire to go to the toilet “little by little” in the middle of the night can often be associated with mouth breathing during sleep. The fact is that when we breathe through the mouth, the bladder contracts, causing the need to pee.

5. The more intensely you breathe (the effect of hyperventilation of the lungs), the more hungry you become, because. deep and rhythmic breathing stimulates the production of gastric juice, as well as cellular metabolism.

7. During sleep, a person can quite naturally change position from one side to another. This is due to the balance of breathing that is created when air passes through the nostrils. An interesting point: in yoga, it is believed that when we mainly breathe through the right nostril, the body is ready for vigorous activity (day has come for it), and when we breathe through the left nostril, it means that the body needs rest (night has come). Moreover, "night" and "day" in this case do not necessarily coincide with the time of day. These are simply the internal, energy needs of the body, which are worth listening to.

8. Our nose has a 4-stage filtration system. If you breathe through your mouth, then you immediately skip the first three steps, which naturally can lead to various problems, such as a sore throat, tonsillitis, and even ear infections.

9. Asthma is often misdiagnosed. It is not uncommon that it is inherited, and if you were born with it, then it will remain with you for life. However, properly selected breathing according to the program, as well as changes in external factors, can save you from dependence on inhalers and steroids for life!

10. If you often inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth, then the balance of carbon dioxide in the body may be disturbed, which will lead to its loss. Holding your breath can increase your carbon dioxide levels, which will balance your pH levels.

11. If the lungs are deployed on a flat surface, they can cover a tennis court!

That's it.

It is important to understand and remember that the frequency and depth of breathing is extremely important, both for maintaining health and longevity. Moreover, it is interesting that a person who practices effective breathing becomes not only healthy, but also able to look at life more soberly due to gaining control over his own emotions. This is due to the fact that in the process of breathing energy enters the body; breathing exercises also help to manage this energy. And since our mind and feelings are also connected with this energy (as there is an expression “the power of emotions”), then with the help of breathing you can calm the mind, gain control over it, and over feelings. And this is a direct road to.

Can You Lose Weight With Breathing?

This question is often asked by women who have learned about the importance of proper breathing. The answer is yes! The fact is that thanks to breathing according to the yoga system, there is a harmonization of metabolic processes in the body, which, in particular, leads to (i.e., overweight people can lose weight, and thin people can get better). Of course, this is not some miracle of breathing, and not a magic formula; other factors may also come into play. But, even by itself, correct breathing (pranayama) can transform you in a positive direction in a relatively short period of time.

The interesting thing is that people are not so attentive to their breathing.Breathing is closely related to the energy of our body, as well as to the metabolic processes occurring in the body. If a person breathes incorrectly, he can even harm himself. Since ancient times, yogis believed that the quality and duration of our life depends on the quality of our breathing, which is why a deep and detailed system of pranayama was developed ( an ancient esoteric yoga technique that teaches a person to control prana, free cosmic energy, with the help of self-regulation of breathing) .

Miracles of breath

Although breathing saturates our body with oxygen, this is not the only thing. Air contains 21% oxygen, while the body only needs 5%! The whole point is that you need to free the body from carbon dioxide (CO2).
If you are used to breathing through your mouth, then over time, this can lead to a contraction of the jaw, which, in turn, turns into crooked teeth (or the return of crooked teeth after your braces are removed).
Mouth breathing is one of the main reasons why children develop a lisp when talking.
The more intensely you breathe (the effect of hyperventilation of the lungs), the more hungry you become, because. deep and rhythmic breathing stimulates the production of gastric juice, as well as cellular metabolism.
It is recommended that you practice as long as you can still breathe through your nose. If you are forced to breathe through your mouth from physical exertion, then you are working for wear.
During sleep, a person can quite naturally change position from one side to another. This is due to the balance of breathing that is created when air passes through the nostrils. An interesting point: in yoga, it is believed that when we mainly breathe through the right nostril, the body is ready for vigorous activity (day has come for it), and when we breathe through the left nostril, it means that the body needs rest (night has come). Moreover, "night" and "day" in this case do not necessarily coincide with the time of day. These are simply the internal, energy needs of the body, which are worth listening to.
Our nose has a 4-stage filtration system. If you breathe through your nose, then you immediately skip the first three steps, which naturally can lead to various problems, such as a sore throat, tonsillitis, and even ear infections.
Asthma is often misdiagnosed. It is not uncommon that it is inherited, and if you were born with it, then it will remain with you for life. However, properly selected breathing according to the program, as well as changes in external factors, can save you from dependence on inhalers and steroids for life!
If you often inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth, then the balance of carbon dioxide in the body can be disturbed, which will lead to its loss. Holding your breath can increase your carbon dioxide levels, which will balance your pH levels.
If the lungs are deployed on a flat surface, they can cover a tennis court!

Is it possible to lose weight with breathing

This question is often asked by women who have learned about the importance of proper breathing. Yes! The fact is that thanks to the yoga system of breathing, there is a harmonization of metabolic processes in the body, which, in particular, leads to the normalization of weight. (i.e., overweight people can lose weight, and thin people can gain weight). Of course, this is not some miracle of breathing, and not a magic formula; other factors may also come into play. But, even by itself, correct breathing (pranayama) can transform you in a positive direction in a relatively short period of time.

Have we thought about how we breathe, and, in general, about the lungs?

The lungs have a surface area of about 100 square meters;
The air capacity during inhalation in the right lung is greater than that of the left;
Every day, an adult person inhales 23,000 times, and exhales the same number of times;
The ratio of the duration of inhalation to exhalation during normal breathing is 4:5, and while playing a wind musical instrument - 1:20;
The maximum breath hold is 7 minutes 1 second. An ordinary person during this time must inhale and exhale more than a hundred times;
It is impossible to sneeze with open eyes;
On average, a person takes 1,000 breaths per hour, 26,000 per day, and 9 million per year. Throughout her life, a woman inhales 746 million times, and a man 670.
By the way, the fight against snoring also has many interesting facts, in particular, it has been going on for 120 years. The first invention in this area was registered with the US Patent Office in 1874. During this time, more than 300 devices capable of fighting snoring have been patented. Some of them have been put into mass production. For example, an autonomous electrical device attached to the ear was invented. It was a miniature microphone designed to determine the strength of the sound produced by snoring, and a return signal generator. When a person began to snore, he was awakened by a noise amplified by the device. Another inventor suggested attaching his device to the molar along with the connecting button. According to the author's intention, it should put pressure on the soft palate and prevent the vibration that occurs during snoring. However, many of them remained in a single copy.

Cherish the gift of being a healthy person!

It must be borne in mind that absolutely all vital processes of our body depend on breathing. That is why diseases of the human respiratory system are extremely dangerous and require the most serious approach to treatment. All manipulations should be aimed at full recovery. Remember that it is impossible to start such diseases, since complications can lead, including death.

Nature has thought of everything to the smallest detail, and our goal is to preserve what is given to us, since the human body is a unique and inimitable world that requires careful attitude to itself.

Everyone knows that life is impossible without air. Other, no less significant facts about breathing are little known.

1. In the process of respiration, cells and tissues receive the oxygen they need, and waste products - carbon dioxide - are excreted.

2. Some microbes and bacteria living in our body produce the same amino acids from atmospheric nitrogen that we get from food and from which new cells are then built. Thus, in the process of breathing, we are also reinforced.

3. Rare and deep breathing allows you to become more resilient and stay young longer: most of the cells in our body die not from old age, but from a lack of oxygen.

4. Regular exercise increases lung capacity by a quarter. You can "pump" the respiratory muscles with the help of cardio loads - running, cycling, swimming, and special breathing exercises.

5. With the help of the “breath prints” test, doctors can identify a whole range of diseases - from sinusitis to schizophrenia. By the way, in the diagnosis of breast cancer, the test is considered as reliable as mammography.

6. For daily oral hygiene care, be sure to allocate at least five minutes. In the morning and evening, in addition to the teeth, it is recommended to clean the tongue and palate and rinse your mouth once a day with a special elixir or decoction of chamomile, calamus root, oak bark.

7. We breathe unconsciously, but when there is not enough air to finish a word or sentence, a person begins to stutter. It's all about the disruption of the respiratory center in the brain. Correcting his activities is not so difficult if you turn to an experienced one.

8. To saturate the blood with oxygen per day, we need about 500 liters of air, which is about 23 thousand breaths and exhalations. The respiratory rate changes with the seasons - in spring it is one third higher than in autumn. It is believed that this is due to the partial immersion of the body in hibernation.

9. It is the respiratory organs that suffer from smoking in the first place: the vocal cords thicken, laryngitis, tracheitis, and chronic bronchitis occur. According to statistics, among patients with cancer of the larynx, 98% are smokers, and lung cancer is affected by tobacco lovers 50 times more often than non-smokers.

10. If you feel irritability, fatigue, headache, insomnia, apathy, breathe deeply. More precisely, do the exercise “harmonious breathing”. Sit comfortably and lean against the back of a chair. Exhale so that the volume of not only the chest, but also the abdomen decreases. Hold your breath and stay in this position for as long as it feels good. Next, inhale. First, fill the relaxed stomach with air (it will expand like a ball), then the chest. To get some more oxygen in, raise your hands up and take them behind your head. Begin a full exhalation from the abdomen. All stages must be done together, as a continuous wave-like movement. Keep the muscles of the arms, face and neck relaxed.

We breathe regularly, and most often we do it without thinking about the order and essence of the execution of the process itself by our body. With every change in the surrounding atmosphere, our body almost immediately “mentions” the need created by “nature” for the supply of oxygen and the supply of oxygen to all organs and cells.

Human lungs are a paired respiratory organ of mammals, as well as birds, reptiles, including fish, which provides breathing and the whole life of the body.

The human body breathes 20,000 times a day or 8 million times a year. Of course, these figures are approximate indicators and vary depending on the structure of the respiratory system, the characteristics of the body and metabolic processes in it, and so on. Traditionally, we do not pay much attention to this action, but 12-20 times a minute, hour after hour, day after day, we continue to inhale the air and provide our organs with an environment for healthy work. It is difficult for science and any explanation to imagine a much more automatic and unconditional process, since our respiratory system is completely automated and cannot be controlled by any factors and conditions. The human brain at the level of reflexes controls the entire process of breathing.

Just imagine: in order to climb a hillock, we would have to calculate how often or with what force we need to breathe. (And how would we breathe in our sleep?) The brain is able to continuously monitor the degree of air and carbon dioxide in the blood around the body with the support of receptors located in the main arteries in our body. With a decrease in O2 and an increase in CO2, the brain sends the most rapid, frequent and powerful messages to the respiratory muscles, so that they stimulate the lungs and bring them to a faster level.

Other interesting facts about the human lungs and the structure of the respiratory system

Have you thought about why the lungs of a person received such a name? The thing is that the lungs are an organ that is freely held on the plane of the water, if it is thrown there. All other organs are buried in water.
Despite the fact that almost everyone believes that the respiratory organs are represented by a similar volume, in fact this is not the case. The left lung is slightly smaller than the right lung. As a result, there is room for the heart in the human body.
Almost all people who died from respiratory cancer were heavy smokers and smoked about one pack of cigarettes a day.
During each day, on average, about 10,000 liters of air passes through the lungs of a person, while the person himself takes about 20,000-25,000 breaths.
The lungs of a person who plays sports are able to retain more oxygen than the lungs of an ordinary person.
The color of the lungs of a newborn child differs significantly from that of an adult: in the first days of life, the lungs of a child are painted in a soft pink color, which darkens over time. Apparently, the whole point is in the dust that catches a cold along with oxygen.
Many scientists believe that the lungs are designed not only to provide breathing to a person, but also to protect his heart from mechanical damage.
Also, the lungs form a certain airflow, which mainly creates sounds and regulates our speech.
Protein intake strengthens the lung tissue in order and contributes to a better functioning of the respiratory system.
According to statistics, on average, for 60 years of human life, about 16 g of dust, 0.1 g of heavy metals and 200 g of harmful drugs pass through the lungs.
More than 37,000 people die of tuberculosis every year. These figures are registered on the territory of the Russian Federation and are due to the fact that 99% of people who died from lung cancer were heavy smokers.
There is 150 ml of air in the body, which is “stale” and does not play any role in any actions. In order to “replenish” them episodically, we yawn and breathe deeply.
Inhaling is much more difficult than exhaling. This is due to the fact that when we exhale, we push air and carbon dioxide out of the body, which does not require muscle tension.
By introducing broccoli and Chinese cabbage into your diet at least once a week, you can save yourself thirty percent of the risk of getting lung cancer and other diseases of the respiratory system. A person living in a metropolis is ill with bronchial diseases 2 times more often than a resident of villages and private sectors outside the city.
Lung tissue lacks receptors. That is why you will not be able to feel any pain or any other feelings when you inhale or exhale. If you begin to feel discomfort in the lungs, you should immediately contact a specialist.
The body acquires air and gets rid of the waste product with the support of 700 million pulmonary vesicles, or alveoli, braided with a network of capillaries.
The size of the inhalation and exhalation of a person in a moderate state is 500 ml.
Depending on ventilation, breathing is divided into superficial and deep.
Eastern sages study the rules of breathing and advise: inhale simply, exhale long. Keep your shoulders back, don't talk, straighten your back, and try to work 5-7 breaths in 60 seconds, engaging both your abdomen and chest. The body itself will tell you how to act correctly and you will feel relaxation and relief throughout the body, followed by a surge of strength and energy.

Keep an eye on the health of your respiratory system, walk more often in the fresh air and give up bad habits.

Breathing is the basis of our life and an unconditioned reflex. Therefore, we are used to not thinking about how we do it. And in vain - many of us breathe not quite right.

Do we always breathe through both nostrils?

Few people know that a person breathes most often through only one nostril - this is due to a change in nasal cycles. One of the nostrils is the main one, and the other is additional, and then the right one then the left one plays the role of the leader. The change of the leading nostril occurs every 4 hours, and during the nasal cycle, the blood vessels constrict at the leading nostril, and dilate in the additional one, increasing or decreasing the lumen through which air passes into the nasopharynx.

How to breathe correctly

Most people breathe incorrectly. In order to teach your body to breathe in the most optimal way, you need to remember how we all breathed in childhood - when breathing through the nose, the upper part of our abdomen gradually fell and rose, and the chest remained motionless. Diaphragmatic breathing is the most optimal and natural for a person, but gradually, growing up, people spoil their posture, which affects the correctness of breathing, and the muscles of the diaphragm begin to move incorrectly, squeezing and limiting the lungs. Some people, under heavy loads, begin to breathe through their mouths - which is extremely harmful, since in this case the air entering the body is not filtered by the nasopharynx. In order to learn how to breathe not with the chest, but with the stomach, you can try a simple exercise: sit or stand as straight as possible, put your hand on your stomach and breathe, controlling its movement. In this case, the second hand can be placed on the chest and see if it moves. Breathing should be deep and carried out only through the nose.

Today we know about the disease of our time - computer apnea, which occurs due to improper breathing. According to scientists, up to 80% of people using computers can suffer from it. While working at a computer, a person can involuntarily hold his breath, concentrating on the details that are important to him. At the same time, some people feel a little dizzy - these are the first signs of apnea. Restricted breathing during concentrated work causes an accelerated heart rate, dilated pupils and can lead to obesity and even diabetes. Doctors recommend monitoring your breathing while working at the computer.

How long can you not breathe?

It is generally accepted that a person can do without air for 5 to 7 minutes - then irreversible changes occur in the brain cells without oxygen supply, leading to death. However, to date, the world record for holding your breath under water - static apnea - is 22 minutes 30 seconds, and Goran Colak set it. In total, there are only four people in the world who are able to hold their breath for longer than 20 minutes, and all of them are former record holders. Such a discipline is deadly, and in order to retain air for more than 5 minutes, athletes need years of training. To fight the urge to breathe in, they try to increase their lung capacity by 20%. This sport requires maximum dedication: record holders train motionless and dynamic breath holding twice a week, follow a special diet high in vegetables, fruits and fish oil. It is also necessary to train in pressure chambers so that the body gets used to the existence without a sufficient amount of oxygen - oxygen starvation, similar to what climbers experience in rarefied air at high altitudes.

Unprepared people are highly discouraged from trying to hold their breath for a long time or get into conditions of oxygen starvation. The fact is that the body needs about 250 milliliters of oxygen per minute at rest, and during physical activity this figure increases 10 times. Without the transfer of oxygen from the air to the blood, which takes place in our lungs with the help of the alveoli in contact with the blood capillaries, the brain will cease to function normally in five minutes due to the death of nerve cells. The problem is that when you hold your breath, the oxygen that turns into CO2 has nowhere to go. The gas begins to circulate through the veins, telling the brain to inhale, and for the body this is accompanied by a burning sensation in the lungs and spasms of the diaphragm.

Why do people snore?

Each of us has experienced a situation where another person prevented us from falling asleep with their snoring. Sometimes snoring can reach 112 decibels, which is louder than the sound of a tractor or even an airplane engine. However, snorers are awakened by a loud sound. Why is this happening? When people sleep, their muscles automatically relax. The same often happens with the tongue and the soft palate, as a result of which the passage of the inhaled air is partially blocked. As a result, there is a vibration of the soft tissues of the palate, accompanied by a loud sound. Also, snoring can occur due to swelling of the muscles of the larynx, leading to a narrowing of the larynx and air passage. Snoring can occur due to structural features of the nasal septum, for example, curvature, as well as due to diseases of the nasopharynx - enlarged tonsils, polyps and colds, or allergies. All these phenomena somehow lead to a narrowing of the lumen used for air intake. Also at risk are overweight people and smokers.

Diseases and bad habits can cause not only unpleasant snoring for others, but also serious illnesses. Recently, the harmful effects of snoring on the brain have been discovered: scientists have found that since less oxygen enters the brain during snoring, snoring patients have a decrease in the amount of gray matter, which can lead to a decrease in mental abilities.

Snoring can lead to deadly diseases such as sleep apnea, holding your breath during sleep. A snorer can have up to 500 breath stops per night, meaning they won't breathe for a total of about four hours, but they won't be able to remember it. Sleep apnea causes a lack of oxygen in the blood, and people suffering from sleep apnea constantly do not get enough sleep and feel tired. At moments of holding their breath, the sleepers turn restlessly in their sleep, but do not wake up. The resumption of breathing occurs with loud snoring. Gradually, the lack of oxygen will lead to heart rhythm disturbances and excessive stress on the brain, which can cause stroke and heart attacks. Because of all these dangers of snoring, people have long tried to fight it: even special machines are known that fix the volume of the environment and wake a person if he starts snoring.

Why do we sneeze with our eyes closed?

Interestingly, many people do not notice that when they sneeze, their eyes automatically close. Recently, scientists conducted a study clarifying why it is impossible to sneeze with your eyes open. It showed that in the process of sneezing, which involves many muscles of the abs, chest, diaphragm, vocal cords and throat, such strong pressure is created that if the eyes are not closed, they can be damaged. The speed of air and particles emitted from the nasal passages during a sneeze is more than 150 km/h. The process of closing the eyes is controlled by a special part of the brain. Moreover, scientists have managed to discover the relationship between sneezing and human character: those who sneeze secretly and quietly are pedants, patient and calm, and those who, on the contrary, sneezes loudly and resoundingly, are typical enthusiasts with many friends and full of ideas. Only loners, decisive and demanding, independent and prone to leadership, sneeze quickly and without trying to restrain themselves.

Why do we yawn?

Breathing is sometimes associated with some unusual effects, such as yawning. Why do people yawn? The function of this process was not known for certain until recently. Various theories have explained yawning as helping breathing by activating the supply of oxygen, but scientist Robert Provin set up an experiment in which he disproved this theory by giving the subjects to breathe various mixtures of gases. Another theory is that yawning when tired is a specific signal that synchronizes the biological clock in a group of people. That is why yawning is contagious, as it should set people up for a joint daily routine. There is also a hypothesis that yawns, with their sharp movements of the jaws, cause increased blood circulation, which helps to cool the brain. Applying a cold compress to the forehead of the subjects significantly reduced the frequency of yawning. It is known that fetuses often yawn while still in the mother's womb: this may help them expand their lung capacity and develop articulation. Yawning also has an antidepressant-like effect, and yawns are often accompanied by a slight sensation of release.

Breath control

Breathing can be controlled and arbitrary. Usually we do not think about how exactly we need to inhale, and what it should be done at all, our body easily takes care of everything itself and we can breathe even when we are unconscious. However, our breathing can get out of hand, we can start to suffocate if, for example, we run very fast. It also happens uncontrollably, and if you are not aware of your breathing at this moment, then it will not be possible to align it.

There is also controlled breathing, with the help of which a person can remain calm, inhale the air evenly and rhythmically, and with the help of this run tens of kilometers. One way to learn to control breathing is through special karate techniques or yoga exercises - pranayama.

Where are the dangers of breathing exercises?

Yogis warn that practicing pranayama, breathing yoga, without proper preparation can be dangerous. Firstly, during practice, it is necessary to keep your back straight in certain positions, that is, to already master yoga asanas. Secondly, this breathing technique is so powerful that it can have a profound effect on the physical and emotional state of the body. In addition, there should be clean air in the place of practice, and a number of restrictions are imposed on the practitioner: you cannot practice pranayama under 18 years of age, with high blood pressure, injuries, illnesses, etc.

There are other breathing practices that are potentially hazardous to health. For example, holotropic breathing, which offers to plunge into an altered state of consciousness with the help of hyperventilation of the lungs - rapid breathing, which can cause many side effects, such as brain hypoxia, and is highly discouraged for people with chronic cardiovascular diseases.

Sergey Zotov

Original entry and comments on

Let me rephrase the famous philosopher of antiquity: "You breathe - it means you exist!" And so, let's go ... interesting facts about such an important process for life as breathing.

Depending on the intensity of metabolism, a person exhales on average about 5 - 18 liters of carbon dioxide (CO2) and 50 grams of water per hour.

Constant mouth breathing is a direct path to sinusitis and other problems with the nasopharynx. The reason is simple - when we breathe through the nose, the air is filtered and warmed before getting into the throat, when we breathe through the mouth - we breathe cold. Hence the diseases of the ear, nose and throat.

The more intensely you breathe (the effect of hyperventilation of the lungs), the more hungry you become, because. deep and rhythmic breathing stimulates the production of gastric juice, as well as cellular metabolism.

During sleep, a person can quite naturally change position from one side to another. This is due to the balance of breathing that is created when air passes through the nostrils. An interesting point: in yoga, it is believed that when we mainly breathe through the right nostril, the body is ready for vigorous activity (day has come for it), and when we breathe through the left nostril, it means that the body needs rest (night has come). Moreover, "night" and "day" in this case do not necessarily coincide with the time of day. These are simply the internal, energy needs of the body, which are worth listening to.

If you often inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth, then the balance of carbon dioxide in the body can be disturbed, which will lead to its loss. Holding your breath can increase your carbon dioxide levels, which will balance your pH levels.

If the lungs are deployed on a flat surface, they can cover a tennis court!

The air capacity of the right lung during inhalation is greater than that of the left.

Every day, an adult person inhales 23,000 times, and exhales the same number of times.

The ratio of the duration of inhalation to exhalation during normal breathing is 4:5, and while playing a wind musical instrument - 1:20.

The maximum breath hold is 7 minutes 1 second. An ordinary person during this time must inhale and exhale more than a hundred times.

In Japan, there are special clubs where you can breathe fresh, specially purified and flavored air for a small fee.

Dolphins need to constantly breathe atmospheric oxygen, for this they regularly emerge. To ensure such breathing during sleep, the hemispheres of the dolphin's brain sleep in turns.

The breath of a jellyfish is very different from the breath of a person or even a fish. The jellyfish does not have lungs and gills, as well as any other respiratory organ. The walls of its gelatinous body and tentacles are so thin that oxygen molecules freely penetrate through the jelly-like "skin" straight into the internal organs. Thus, the jellyfish breathes the entire surface of its body.

Beavers can hold their breath underwater for up to 15 minutes, and seals for up to half an hour.

Insects don't have lungs. Their main respiratory system is the trachea. These are communicating air tubes that open outward on the sides of the body with spiracles.

Fish also breathe air, getting it from the water that enters the mouth, washes the gills and exits through the gill slits.

Breathing is the basis of our life and an unconditioned reflex. Therefore, we are used to not thinking about how we do it. And in vain - many of us breathe not quite right.

Do we always breathe through both nostrils?

How to breathe correctly

How long can you not breathe?

Why do people snore?

Why do we sneeze with our eyes closed?

Why do we yawn?

Breath control

Where are the dangers of breathing exercises?

Breathing is the basis of our life and an unconditioned reflex. Therefore, we are used to not thinking about how we do it. And in vain - many of us breathe not quite right.