Let's take a look at some fun facts about breathing:
- Your sinuses are hollow spaces within the bones between your eyes, under your cheekbones and in your forehead. They make your head lighter and probably played an important evolutionary role in allowing us to become upright. The sinuses also function as built-in airbags protecting the brain and the eyes.
- As air passes through your nose 👃, it’s warmed/cooled to body temperature—98.6℉. The runny nose you get when you go out in cold weather is due to condensation of moisture as your nose is warming up and humidifying the air that you breathe in.
- If you could zoom in on your lungs, you'd find numerous tube-like airways and about 300-500 million air sacs. Check out my blog post on the physiology of the breath. If you were to unfold and stretch out all the tubes in your lungs, they would cover an area about the size of a tennis court! This large surface area is important for the gas exchange O₂⇔CO₂.
- Because your lungs are made up of tube-like air sacs, they are the only organs in the body that can float when filled up with air.
- The diaphragm helps the middle of your body find stability so that your limbs (arms and legs) can do their thing effectively and efficiently.
- When you inhale, the diaphragm contracts down. When you exhale, it relaxes back to its dome shape. 👉The diaphragm is active on inhalation, not exhalation.
Intriguing, isn’t it? Take good care of your body. It's truly a miracle.
Stay healthy, stay happy.