The Respiratory System Essay
The human respiratory system is one the crucial facets of a vital and healthy organism. It represents a biological system which includes specific organs, structures, their complicated physiology and cooperation used for the process of respiration in human organism. Due to the respiratory system and its biological processes people can exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide between their organism and environment. Most of the people do not realize completely all the importance of respiratory system, its complete schematic view, parts, functions, and details. They breathe constantly and do not think how their respiratory system functions, what the organs comprising it, and its importance to the body as a whole. The process of respiration requires the cooperation and responsibility of other organs in human body, such as nose, pharynx, larynx, trachea, bronchi, alveoli, diaphragm, and lungs, the collaboration of which provides the organism with new supply of oxygen needed to work and function properly. Human personal choices, lifestyle, food choices and environmental influences strongly affect the respiratory system and in most cases, it receives negative effects which lead to disorders, chronic lungs diseases, and deterioration of the overall health. The respiratory system is vital to every human being because it allows air to pass in and out of the human organism. It represents the complicated mechanisms and processes which not only help supply human body with a constant stream of oxygen to stay alive and remove carbon dioxide and other gases but also help transfer energy and support delicate respiratory processes to maintain human life and normal functioning of human organism.
The respiratory system and its organs are responsible for the process breathing, and the system’s primarily function is gas exchange. In other words, respiration is “the act of breathing, namely inhaling (inspiration) oxygen from the atmosphere into the lungs and exhaling (expiration) into the atmosphere carbon dioxide” (Ionescu, 2013, p. 13). On the one side, it is an automatic and repeated process; on the other side, it requires the collaboration of a number of organs and structures in human body. The respiration system has a complex physiology and anatomy. The organs comprising the respiratory system include the nose, pharynx, larynx, trachea, bronchi, and lungs. The respiratory system consists of the two major parts such as the upper airway part which includes the nose, nasal cavity, frontal sinuses, maxillary sinus, larynx, and trachea, and the lower airway part which includes the lungs, bronchi, and the alveoli. Every organ is responsible for its own function and at the same time they closely interact with each other and all work like a whole mechanism through which the air moves down into the lungs.The Respiratory System Essay Respiration process begins as oxygen enters the organism through the nose, the primarily upper respiratory organ, goes through the nasal cavity where it moistened and humidified. Pharynx is another organ that represents itself a tubular structure which allows air to pass from the mouth to lungs. As oxygen moves down the throat it enters into the larynx, a flexible structure of the respiratory tract. Larynx can regulate the flow of oxygen and protects the trachea from food aspiration. Then the air travels into trachea or windpipe, another component of the respiratory system that connects the larynx to the bronchi of the lungs. The bronchi are the two air passages which carry oxygen from the trachea to the lungs. Lungs are paired, sponge, air-filled organs that ensure the entry of air into the organism and the removal of the carbon dioxide out of the body. Ionescu (2013) explains that in the lungs “the main-stem bronchi divide into smaller bronchi and then into even smaller tubes called bronchioles, which finally end in tiny air sacs called alveoli” (p. 13). At this stage, the diffusion occurs that “allows the oxygen from the alveoli to pass through the alveolar walls into the blood and the carbon dioxide to pass through the capillary walls into the alveoli” (Ionescu, 2013, p. 13). The lungs increase and decrease in volume but do not contradict; the diaphragm is the primarily muscle and its contradiction causes the process of inspiration or inhalation.
The main function of the respiratory system to the body as a whole is to supply the blood with oxygen. As evidence shows, the respiratory system enhances so called gaseous exchange where the oxygen (which humans need to for their cells to function) from the environment is transferred into their bloodstream while carbon dioxide (a waster product of cellular function) is expelled into the air (Tu et al., 2013). Lungs are the primarily organs of the respiratory system that support these gaseous exchanges. Red blood cells transmit the air from the lungs and supply the oxygen to all the parts of human body to sustain normal functioning and body’s energy. It is a complicated and collaborative process which requires the cooperation of specific organs used for the process of respiration in human organism. Oxygen is an essential element to human body. The decrease in oxygen in human body, hypoxia, or the complete lack of this element, anoxia, may cause the damage processes in human organism after about few minutes. The destruction of brain cells may lead to brain damage and fatal consequences. As seen, the respiratory system is one of the most important systems in the body, which possesses one vital function, breathing, to keep humans alive. It helps the body to maintain energy, gas exchange between blood, cells and air, and balance among elements in human organism.The Respiratory System Essay
The respiratory system works with other systems in the body, such as digestive, nervous, circulatory, skeletal, muscular, immune, exocrine and other systems in human organism. The relationships of the respiratory system with other systems in the body help people speak, smell, and move oxygen into the bloodstream and waste out of it. The skeletal system provides structure to the human body and protects internal organs, provides structure to soft tissue in the upper respiratory tract. The interaction of the respiratory system with laryngeal skeleton,nine cartilages located within the larynx, provides people with an ability to speak. The perpendicular plate of the ethmoid bone divides the nasal cavity into sides and forms the nasal septum, the wall between the nostrils that separates the nasal passages. The air passes over the vocal cords, small bands of muscle within the larynx, which causes vibration process and sounds, which results in a unique voice for each individual.
The second system that the respiratory system collaborates with is the digestive system. It consists of gastrointestinal tract, an organ system within humans which takes in food, digest it, and expels, and other accessory organs of digestion that include salivary glands, glands that produce saliva, pancreas, a glandular organ locate in the abdominal cavity behind the stomach, liver, a vital organ in humans located in the upper right part below the diaphragm, and gallbladder, an organ located beneath the right lobe of the liver. The respiratory system requires the digestive tract to function because “the muscles of the respiratory system require fuel to work and they receive that from the digestive system” (New Health Advisor, 2014). The respiratory and digestive systems tightly interact and collaborate with each other as the digestive system provides human organism with nutrients and the respiratory system supplies it with oxygen.The Respiratory System Essay
The third system that the respiratory system works with is the nervous system, which controls sensations, movements, thoughts, and other body’s activities. Despite their very different functions, these two systems collaborate in order to identify smells and essences in the environment. The cribriform plate of the ethmoid bone supports the olfactory bulb, a neural structure of the vertebrate forebrain involved in the sense of smell, and the foramina, a group of holes located in the cribiform plate, and provides ways to branches of the olfactory nerves, the first cranial nerves that contains sensory nerve fibers relating to smell. As evidence shows, the lungs possess sensors(nerves that carry or transmit information) and receptors (sensory nerve ending) that react to deflation, inflation, and chemical stimulation, which lead to the activation of the nervous system, “resulting in a neutrally controlled response, like a sudden cough or an altered breathing pattern” (New Health Advisor, 2014). Other systems that work with the respiratory system are the circulatory, immune, and endocrine systems. The circulatory system transfers oxygen, nutrients, and other substances to the body’s cells, supports the transportation of carbon dioxide, and carries away waste products. The effective collaboration of the circulatory and respiratory systems enhances and supports the oxygen-rich blood circulation through the body. Blood travels in and out the lungs through the pulmonary arteries, vessels that transport deoxygenated blood from the heart to the lungs. One more system that interacts with the respiratory system is the immune system that protects the organism against the diseases. Despite their “innocent relationships”, when any foreign patterns enter the respiratory system, the immune system plays a major role and provides protection in the form of lymphocytes (white blood cells in a vertebrate’s immune system) and macrophages (white blood cells that digest and clean the organism from the bacteria, microbes, and dead cells). The last system that collaborates with the respiratory system is the endocrine system, the collection of glands that produce hormones directly in the circulatory system to regulate growth, control metabolism, tissue function, reproduction, sleep, and other processes in the body. These two systems work independently, but at the same time, respiratory system closely interacts with certain organs to support oxygen in the bloodstream.The Respiratory System Essay
The respiratory system has a number of pathologies, infections, and disorders that negatively affect the normal functioning of human organism and cause deterioration of the overall health. The respiratory system’s disorders may include bronchitis, laryngitis, otitis, asthma, pneumonia and many other bacterial or viral infections. Bronchitis is one of the most common respiratory infections, an inflammation of the bronchi caused by irritant particles, such as air pollution, cigarette smoke, viruses, bacteria, or certain infections. Laryngitis is another disease of the lower respiratory tract, an inflammation of larynx which results in voice changes, pain in neck zone, fever, and cough. The causes may include overuse of the vocal cords, viral infections, bacterial infections, allergens, and other irritants. Otitis, a middle air infection, is a painful air disorder mostly common for infants and children, which results in air pain, headache, fever, loss of balance, and diminished hearing. Its causes include bacteria, viruses, flu, allergy, cold, and other respiratory illnesses. Pneumonia is an infection of the lungs, which characterized primarily by inflammation of the alveoli and may result in chest pain, fever, and breathing difficulties. Pneumonias are usually caused by bacteria, viruses, fungal or protozoan infections. Asthma is a serious disorder with “periodic episodes of contractions of bronchial smooth muscle, which restricts air movement” (Vander, et all., 1998). The causes vary from person to person and include the combination of environmental and genetic factors, such as air pollutants, respiratory infections, cold air, smoke, and even strong emotions or stress.
The human respiratory system is one the crucial facets of a vital and healthy organism. It involves the complex mechanisms and processes which not only help supply human organism with a constant stream of oxygen to stay alive and remove carbon gases but also help transmit energy and support delicate respiratory processes to maintain human life and normal functioning. The Respiratory System Essay
References:
Ionescu, C.M. (2013). The Human Respiratory System. Serious in Bio Engineering, Springer Verlag London.
New Health Advisor Editors (2014). How does the Respiratory System works with other Systems? Retrieved from http://www.newhealthadvisor.com/How-Does-the– Respiratory-System-Work-With-Other-Systems.html
Tu, J., Inthavong, K., & Ahmadi, G. (2013). Computational Fluid and Particle Dynamics in the Human Respiratory System. Biological and Medical Physics, Biomedical Engineering, Springer Science & Business.
Vander, A., Luciano, D., & Sherman, J. (1998). Human Physiology. The Mechanism of Body Function. Seven Edition, the McGraw Hill. The Respiratory System Essay