Lungs are paired respiratory organs. As early as the second month of fetal development, lung tissue begins to form in the womb. After a child is born, his respiratory system is still developing, this formation is completed only by the age of 22-25. And after the age of 40, the gradual aging of the lung tissue begins. Today's conversation will be about the structure of this organ, its work, pulmonary ventilation.
Lung function
Light voluminous in size, they occupy almost the entire chest cavity. When a person takes a breath, the oxygen entering the lungs enters the bloodstream, after the formation of carbon dioxide, it again moves into the lung cavity, from there it is removed with exhalation.
Due to the special pleural membrane during inhalation and exhalation, the lungs have the ability to contract and expand. Also under them there is a flat muscle - the diaphragm. When is donebreath, diaphragm and intercostal muscle tense. The ribs are raised and the diaphragm is lowered. At this time, the chest increases and lung volumes increase, they draw in air with oxygen content. On exhalation, the intercostal muscles relax, the ribs themselves go down, the diaphragm rises up and ejects air that contains carbon dioxide from the lung tissue.
When you inhale, air first enters the trachea, from there it travels to two tubes called bronchi. The latter have small branches - bronchioles. At their tips there are bubbles filled with air, they are called alveoli. Through their thinnest membranes, oxygen penetrates into the bloodstream. Such bubbles resemble clusters, and there are about 300 million of them in the lung tissue.
Pulmonary veins and arteries, which are present in the alveoli and lung tissues, take part in the system of the so-called pulmonary circulation of the body.
What are the important functions of the lungs
The main purpose of these organs is gas exchange. In addition, the lungs are practiced on other functions:
- Control the acid-base index in the body.
- Remove toxic substances, alcohol fumes, essential oils, etc.
- Maintain water balance in the human system. Normally, the lungs can evaporate up to 0.5 liters of water from the body per day. If extreme conditions are present, this figure rises to 8-10 liters per day.
- Delay and dissolve varioussubstances such as cell conglomerates, fat microemboli and fibrin clots.
- Participate in coagulation or blood clotting.
- Participate in the formation of immunity (phagocytic activity).
Volume measure
Lung volumes can change under the influence of age-related changes and other negative factors. If you lead the right lifestyle, you can increase the volume of the lungs, thereby improving your body.
The volume of air in the lungs determines its parameter in one breath. If we consider the maximum value, then you can inhale at a time from 3 to 7 liters. But sometimes, due to some living conditions, this volume is significantly reduced.
In a person without deviations in he alth, lung tissues are supplied with oxygen in a timely manner and in full. The vital capacity of the lungs should normally be at least three-quarters of the total lung volume. It depends not only on a good genetic predisposition, but also on the right lifestyle.
Lung capacities
The capacity of the lungs can be as follows, depending on the volume of inhalation-exhalation:
- Total lung tissue capacity (TLC) - determined by the increased amount of air received during inspiration.
- Vital capacity (VC) is the volume of air that is exhaled after a maximum breath.
- Functional residual capacity (FRC) is the amount of air left in the lungs after exhalation at rest.
Suchstates are called static lung volumes.
In medicine, the study of lung capacity is often used to diagnose various respiratory diseases. But not only for these purposes. Such diagnostics are shown in the following situations:
- For the purpose of diagnosing diseases such as atelectasis, cicatricial changes in the lungs, pleural lesions, etc.
- For environmental monitoring of a certain region.
- To identify the state of the function of the respiratory population in ecologically unfavorable areas.
What causes can affect lung capacity
There are a number of factors that affect lung capacity:
- Location: the higher the place of residence, the more air is required for inhalation, therefore, the volume of the lungs in people can be larger.
- Human Height: Tall people have more lung tissue than short people.
- Smoking: due to the deposition of tar in the lungs, the volume of inhaled air is significantly reduced.
- Period of pregnancy: volume may be reduced by enlarging the uterus and squeezing the diaphragm.
- Profession of a person: there are a number of professions that require the inhalation of a large amount of air. These are singers, musicians who play wind instruments, professional athletes. These people usually have easy breathing. There are also professions in which, on the contrary, the risk of a decrease in lung capacity increases - these are workers in the mining industry.
Ways to increase lung capacity
You can independently try to increase the volume of the lungs with the help of special exercises. To get the result, you need regularity in classes and following the exact recommendations. Over time, the restructuring of the body will begin, and the person will not experience difficulty breathing while climbing stairs, singing or swimming. In addition to breathing exercises, there are several other ways to improve breathing and increase lung volumes.
For example, blowing up balloons, this activity can even be fun, and the lungs will benefit greatly from the activity.
Another funny way is the following: you need to stick a strip of paper to your nose and, blowing on it, try to keep a piece of paper in weight. As you train regularly, the time to hold the paper on weight will increase. Such exercises can be done an unlimited number of times.
Breathing with expiratory resistance
In order to increase the load on respiratory work, and thereby naturally increase lung volumes, it is necessary to create conditions for the passage of air with obstacles. When inhaling, you do not need to do anything, the person tries to draw air into himself as much as possible. But on exhalation, it is necessary to create resistance. This is done like this:
- Sit in a relaxed position while keeping your back straight.
- Air is inhaled at medium speed through the nose so that the chest is full.
- Lips pursed and air forcefullyexhaled through the mouth.
The benefit of exercise is that air stays longer in the lungs. This increases the duration of gas exchange. The blood is better oxygenated.
Some unprepared people may develop dizziness, so no more than 8-10 such breaths and exhalations are done at a time.
Sports for the development of the organs of the respiratory system
If you exercise regularly, you can thus increase lung capacity by 5-15%. If the body is affected by physical activity, then many of its systems work more actively, including respiratory and cardiovascular. First of all, the volume of oxygen saturation of cells increases.
If a person wants to strengthen the respiratory system, then he needs to go swimming. In tandem with strength sports, you can achieve better results.
You can consider other options, namely:
- jogging;
- diving;
- cycling;
- rowing;
- biathlon;
- skiing, etc.
As a bonus to strengthening the respiratory system, one can also attribute the improvement of the work of the cardiac system. Due to better blood circulation, oxygen consumption also increases. In addition to sports achievements, you can increase the volume of your lungs by singing and playing wind instruments, but not everyone can do this hobby.
Knowing how the lungs work, you can independently increase their volume. If you regularly engage in exercises to increase lung capacity, you can achieve excellentresults. A person recovers faster from respiratory diseases, better tolerates various loads, and does not get tired so quickly.
