Why breathe?

Breathing allows us to eliminate toxic carbon dioxide from our bodies while supplying our heart and lungs with oxygen that is necessary for cellular respiration and the generation of energy necessary for an organism to function. Cellular respiration is the process of using glucose (from food) and oxygen (from breathing) into a high-energy molecule known as adenosine triphosphate (ATP) which is usable by cells. We breathe so that oxygen is able to penetrate the depths of our lungs and enter the bloodstream so that it is available for the cells to use to generate energy. Without oxygen, these cells lack the ATP they need to survive and experience apoptosis, also known as programmed cell death. If cells continue to die, tissues begin to deteriorate, organ systems fail, and the human body ultimately experiences death. Efficient breathing is critical to our survival.

See the video below to see how when you breathe, we transport oxygen to the body’s cells to keep them working, while also clearing our system of the carbon dioxide that this work generates: how do we accomplish this crucial and complex task without even thinking about it ...