The respiratory system is what you need to help you breathe. It involves your lungs, windpipe, and your diaphragm. Since everything in your body needs oxygen, the cells in your body couldn't possibly survive without the respiratory system. When you breathe in air, you inhale. The oxygen takes a trip down your windpipe, divides into two tubes, and then goes into your lungs. Your lungs are those sacks that look like balloons when they fill up with air. When you breathe out, you exhale. The lungs lose air and push out carbon dioxide. To breathe in air, people use their noses and sometimes their mouthes to breathe in air when they have a cold or when the nose is clogged or congested. The lungs look like they have tree branches inside of them. Those tree branches are called bronchi. They are actually tube-shaped. At the end of the tubes are these special sacs called aleoli. The aleoli are responsible for doing a very important job. When you take a breath of oxygen, the sacs take the oxygen and send it out to your bloodstream. Your bloodstream then takes the oxygen to all of the parts of your body. Then, the sacs take the garbage or waste (carbon dioxide) and release it from your body.

 

The diaphragm plays a very important role in breathing. As you breathe in, the diaphragm adjusts the amount of room or space inside below your lungs to give your lungs the ability to get bigger or expand. For example, if you have just finished running in a race, you may feel out of breath and need to take deep breaths to get enough oxygen back into your body. Your diaphragm will adjust to your activity level and pull down so your lungs can expand enough to get the oxygen inside of them. When you exhale, or breathe out, your diaphragm will help push the air out of your body. Your lungs work like a balloon and the diaphragm is in charge of the expanding and contracting.