The Respiratory System

Journey through the Respiratory System

There are about five parts of our respiratory system that helps us breath; the nose, windpipe, air tube, lungs, and last but not least, the air sacs. These five parts help us breathe every day, which is why they’re very important and we have to keep them healthy at all times.

Our nose inhales or inspires air rich in oxygen from the air around us, while its ‘hair’ collects and removes particles dust that is contained within the air we inhale. When the air we breathe is on its way to the lungs, they travel past through the windpipe. The windpipe does not only lead to our nose, but to our mouth as well. That is why we can breathe from our mouth when we part and inhale through it. The air soon reaches to two big air tubes which branches into tinier tubes in our lungs, and at the end of every tiny tube, there are clusters of bubble-shaped-like air sacs.

The air sacs are very important, because they help store oxygen and get rid of carbon dioxide. How?

As the air rich in oxygen we inhale fills in the air sacs, the carbon dioxide that is carried by blood rushes in, replacing the oxygen’s place and at the same time, the oxygen replaces the carbon dioxide’s place. And when we exhale, the carbon dioxide is pushed and forced out of the air sacs and journey through the windpipe, ending up blowing out of our body.

Illnesses and Diseases

Like every other body systems, our respiratory system has its illnesses and diseases. There are about three of them that you should mainly know; Asthma, Emphysema, and Lung cancer.

ASTHMA

Asthma is mainly caused by allergies, or a specific infectious and dangerous substance. Symptoms of Asthma are wheezing, shortness of breath, or even coughing. If you or one of your friends or family has those symptoms, immediately give them medicines and therapies under doctor’s orders and visualization.

People suffering from Asthma can cure well when they are given regular therapies, a few medicines, and most importantly, they have to stay away from the things that give them allergies.

EMPHYSEMA

Emphysema is the enlargement of air sacs. As they larges, they would burst, leaving a hole at the end of the air tubes. When this happens, the air that we breathe would directly fill the next cluster of air sacs. The cycle goes on and on, until most parts of our lungs are damaged.

Symptoms of Emphysema are mainly wheezing or shortness of breathes. Emphysema occurs usually when you inhale smoke from smokers, or you actually do smoke. Therapies and medicines won’t take effect unless you stop smoking at once.

LUNG CANCER

Lung cancer is a formation of tumor in your lungs. It is generally caused by smoking, inhaling deadly gases or pollution, or you may have a family history of lung cancer. When tumor slowly forms from time to time, several parts of your lungs would be severely damaged. Photos of people suffering from lung cancer are usually placed on the back of cigarette boxes, but somehow, the smokers didn’t really pay attention or probably, they just wanted to kill themselves for fun.

Wheezing, shortness of breathes are two of the symptoms of lung cancer. As soon as those symptoms appear, immediately stop smoking or therapies won’t take effect – such as most respiratory system illnesses.

Keeping Our Body Healthy

The main solution to not suffer those deadly diseases is to keep our body healthy by;

·       Eating good and healthy food, along with a proper diet

·       Have regular exercises

·       Get some good rest

·       And keep your hygiene

If you work in dirty or polluted places, be sure to wear a mask at all times to prevent the deadly air from being inhaled. But, most importantly, stop smoking or not smoke at all!

Other Respiratory Systems

Animals also have their own ways to breathe. Mammals, such as squirrels, breathe with their lungs and through their nostrils, as well as birds. Insects, such as butterflies and grasshoppers, breathe through openings in their body that leads to air tubes into their internal organs.

Whales and dolphins breathe with their lungs, but instead of nostrils, they breathe through the blowholes just on the top of their heads. Fish breathe through their gills, the ones that we find when we buy fish in the market. Some animals, like frogs, can breathe in water with their gills, and on land through their moist skin.  

New Novel Prologue

         When a dark, cold snowy night replaced the crispy, auburn sky, a little girl was placing herself on top of a broken branch which fell on the ground as she peered through a broken, shattered mirror, touching every feature of herself that she didn’t recognize. White hair, sickening pale skin, silver painted nails – she ran them through her white hair and waved her slim fingers in front of her…ruby red eyes. Dust engulfed her in alluring sapphire blue sparkles, creating patterned frost at the tip of the fractured piece of glass. The girl wasn’t aware of a beautiful phoenix locking its curious eyes at her odd features and rare, bewitching powers.

          The phoenix attempted its best to not startle the little girl from her place, and it flapped its wings as gentle as it could until not even a mouse would hear such flapping from a close distance. As soon as it was close enough to approach the girl, she spun her head rapidly, startling the phoenix as well. Her skin was so pale, her body was as thin as a small spine, her ribs and hip bones were almost as if it wanted to break through the boundary that was separating the inside from the outside. Just staring at her weak expression almost caused the phoenix want to escape its tears from its eyes.

          “Wh – no please, don’t go near me any further.” She croaked; her voice hoarse, weak and scared. She curled into a ball and hid her face in her cold hands. The phoenix smiled warmly, but didn’t listen.

          “It’s okay.” The girl’s head snapped up – she heard someone talking to her. “I won’t hurt you.” It was talking to her in a masculine voice she wondered if she had heard it before. He was smiling at her; a mythical creature. No one has ever smiled that kind ever since her dear mother past away…because of her.

          She hid her hands inside a pair of gloves. “N-no, y-you don’t understand. I will hurt you.”

          “You won’t.”

          “Yes, I will.”

          “You won’t.”

          “I will.”

          “No, you won’t.”

          “Yes, I will!”

          Shards and fractures of ice sprung from under the ground, they were so sharp and pointy that they nearly pierced through the phoenix’s wings, but, nearly wasn’t that safe enough. The ice broke one of his wings; some of the feathers were plucked off, the point of the wing was severely damaged and slightly curved. He wouldn’t be able to soar off again for at the least, two weeks.

          Transparent beads of tears threatened to escape from the girl’s ruby eyes as she stared in horror at what she had done to the creature’s wings. The phoenix was more than horrified, but surprisingly, although she did cause injurious harm to him, he had forgiven her from the inside. Just as he was about to say something…

          A ball of darkness struck right into his heart.

          He could not breathe.

          He could not utter a word, for his voice was swallowed by the darkness inside of him.

          He could only stare, and gasp hoarsely.

          His eyes grew from piercing, ice blue to golden yellow. Feathers became slick and slippery – as if it was frog skin, or perhaps it was. His coat turned from bright, fire red and brilliant yellow, into really, really pitch dark purple.

          “So weak, you are, Eolande.” There was the Queen of Evil, standing proud and tall, her hands sparking jolts of electric red sparks as the little girl drifted in mid-air, cocooned in the queen's magical sparks. “This child is no longer your charge, for she would be mine.”

          “N-no.”  

          Everything turned black.  

Author's Note: 

Please help me find a fitting title for this story. This is actually the prologue of the mystery story I told you. Please, please, please give me some choices at least. 

Thank You,

Hanun  

Reproduction

How do Living Things reproduce?

There are some ways in which living things can produce an offspring. Offspring are babies or a young that is reproduced by their parents.

Living things can produce offspring through:

·       -  Asexual reproduction

·       - Sexual reproduction

ASEXUAL REPRODUCTION

Asexual reproduction is the simplest form of reproduction. It requires only one parent. The young produced is a clone of the parent. A clone is a copy of its parent.

Example of asexual reproduction, one of the starfish’s arm separates or unattached from the starfish and starts to form slowly into another starfish that looks like its parent.

Pretty cool, huh? The starfish doesn’t need to mate with another starfish to reproduce. It can reproduce by itself.

SEXUAL REPRODUCTION

Meanwhile, sexual reproduction needs two living organisms to reproduce. They have to mate or get married first. The reproduction requires two genders; a female and a male.

A male has an organ which produces reproduction cells called Sperm Cells. A female also has an organ which produces reproduction cells called the Egg. Those two cells fuse together to produce a baby.

Many Sperm Cells can get to the Egg but only one Sperm cell can fuse with the Egg. Once the Sperm and the Egg fuses together, the Egg is already fertilized. Then, the fertilized Egg slowly develops into a baby, completed with ears, eyes, a nose and the rest of its organs.The developing might take about 9 months and the baby will be born after those 9 months. 

There are two different ways to reproduce sexually; some animals reproduce internally, and some animals reproduce externally.

          

Frogs and Fish are examples of animals that reproduce externally.

The female Frog first lays the Eggs on a place which the Eggs can attach to. Then, the male Frog points their genital (penis) to the Eggs and spreads out his Sperm Cells to the Eggs. So, the Eggs are fertilized outside the body of their parents’. Frogs and Fish’s way of reproduction is the same.

          

That reproduction way is called External Reproduction.

Cheetahs and Butterflies are examples of animals that reproduce internally.

BUTTERFLY:

First, the female Butterfly and male Butterfly fuses their Sperm Cells and Eggs together to fertilize the Egg. Then, the female Butterfly lays hundreds of Eggs on a leaf. The Eggs first cracks up into a Caterpillar, when the Caterpillar finishes eating lots of food, they made a soft silky cocoon for them to sleep in for months. After those months had past, the Caterpillar starts to develop and turn into an adult Butterfly.

CHEETAH:

The female Cheetah and male Cheetah fuses their Sperm Cell and Egg together to fertilize the Egg. But, unlike Butterflies, the female Cheetah doesn’t lay its Eggs; its Eggs stay inside the female Cheetah’s abdomen and develops slowly for 9 months until the cub’s body parts & organs are completed. After those 9 months, the cub finally comes out of its mother’s abdomen.

That way of reproduction is called Internal Reproduction. 

Next Summary,
THE RESPIRATORY SYSTEM

The Circulatory System

Our circulatory system is made up of the heart, blood vessels, and the blood they contain. These parts of the circulatory system play an important role in keeping our body healthy and, well, alive.

Our heart is the most vital organ in our body that pumps blood all the time through all parts of our body. Our heart is made of a special muscle called the heart muscles; they help our heart pump blood to all parts and organs in our body restlessly. We cannot control our heart muscles, because it needs to pump all the time in order to survive.

Blood vessels are tubes that carry blood in and out of the heart to every part of our body – since our other organs and body parts need blood to keep working. Some blood vessels carry blood out of our heart and to other body parts, and some blood vessels carry blood back to our heart. There are two colors of blood vessels inside our body; blue ones which flow blood rich in carbon dioxide and other waste materials, and red ones which flow blood rich in oxygen, water and digested food.

Blood which contains inside our blood vessels carries important supplies such as oxygen, digested food, and water to all parts of our body. It also carries carbon dioxide, unhealthy digested food, and dangerous liquid. And soon, they will be disposed out of our body. But, if our body does not digest and consume good stuff almost all the time, our blood will become unhealthy and so will other parts of our body – including our heart.

This system is called the circulatory system because it circulates or moves blood from our heart, around our body, and back to our heart again. Our circulatory system moves blood in two part: one that flows out of our heart to other parts of our body, and one that flows from all parts of our body back to our heart.   

Our heart pumps the blood rich in oxygen to all the cells in our body. They need the oxygen and digested food to produce the energy they use to carry out their functions. Our blood also transports digested food and water from our digestive system to all parts and cells of our body.

As blood goes around the body, it picks up carbon dioxide and other waste substances that the cells produced. On its way back to our heart, blood passes the waste substances to some organs which eventually pass out the waste materials out of our body. When blood reaches the lungs, the carbon dioxide is sent to the lungs, and the lungs would release the carbon dioxide into the air and take in oxygen as we breathe.

Each heartbeat is a cycle of contraction and relaxation of our heart muscles. With every heartbeat, blood is pumped through our heart and pushes the blood through our blood vessels. These pushes are made by a ripple that spreads outwards from our heart and through our blood vessels to push blood to the parts of our body. This is known as a pulse.

We can take in our pulse by pressing two fingers on our wrist, where our blood vessels are close to our skin. The number of pulses in a minute is called our pulse rate. Our pulse rate shows us how many times does our heart beats in each a minute. This is called our heart rate as well. The heart rate of a healthy adult is about 60 to 70 times per minute.

A baby or child’s heart rate can reach up to about 120 times in a minute. An average adult’s heart can beat about 60 to 90 times per minute. And an elderly person’s heart rate can reach until about 60 to 80 times each minute. The heart rate of a healthy person is usually slower than that of a sick person. A fast heart rate is a sign that means you’re ill.

When we exercise, our heart rate becomes faster and faster. This happens because our organs need to work faster in order to bring more blood to carry out the activities and produce energy.

***

Our circulatory system is an important system in our body that we need to live. Damage to a part of our circulatory system may cause sickness or even death. Illnesses of the circulatory system may affect our heart and blood vessels, blood pressure, and blood.

There are about four common illnesses that affect our circulatory system:

BLOOD PRESSURE

Hypertension

Hypertension is also known as high blood pressure. It can lead to other medical conditions such as arteriosclerosis, heart attack, stroke, and kidney failure. Hypertension can be caused by smoking, a diet high in fat or salt, being overweight, lack of exercise and even a high stress level in our life. Eating too much junk food or not doing enough activities can also cause hypertension. Some adults may experience this kind of illness because of their high stress level.

HEART AND BLOOD VESSELS

Arteriosclerosis

A healthy diet is very important for the proper functioning of our circulatory system, if we have a diet with too much fat, fatty substances may collect the inner walls of the arteries. Arteries are the blood vessels that carry blood from the heart to all parts of our body. Over time, the walls which are covered in the fatty substances stiffen. Now this condition is called arteriosclerosis. Blood flow becomes restricted and blocked. Blood clots may develop in the blood vessels, and such clots could lead to a heart attack or stroke. 

BLOOD

Anemia

Anemia is a disease of the blood. This disease happens when we run low of red blood cells in our body. Since these blood cells carry oxygen to the parts of our body, there will be a lack of oxygen carried by the cells in our body. Anemia is caused by a lack of iron in our diet or a large blood loss.

Leukemia

A more severe disease of the blood is called Leukemia. It is also known as the cancer of blood or a bone marrow. This disease occurs when white blood cells multiply rapidly and uncontrolled in the bone marrow. Leukemia may lead to cancer.

***

A healthy circulatory system can be achieved by having a healthy diet and lifestyle. This means we have to exercise regularly, not consume alcohol or take drugs, not smoke, have a balanced diet – with a complete and controlled portion of carbohydrate, protein, fat, vitamins and mineral –, drink a lot of water, and go for monthly body check-ups.

Regular body check-ups can help to detect certain illnesses in our body early so the treatment can work better and quicker than those who start their treatment a few days after their illness had started. Having enough exercises and an active lifestyle ensures a good blood flow throughout our body.

Eating a well and healthy diet will help achieve a healthy weight and also, a healthy heart. Smoking, taking drugs and drinking alcohol can cause severe diseases and health problems to our body. And drinking enough water every day will help our body be fresh and achieve a healthy blood pressure.

Our digestive, circulatory and respiratory system work together to make sure our body is healthy and fit. How do they work together to keep our body strong and healthy?

When we eat, food is digested in the digestive system; through the stomach and intestines. 

Digested food is then absorbed into the blood in the circulatory system as they carry them to the parts of our body and cells. During breathing, oxygen enters the lungs. At the same time, carbon dioxide carried by blood is released in the lungs so they can quickly dispose them when we breathe out, and then blood carries the oxygen to our body. 

Oxygen is absorbed into the blood in the circulatory system. Digested food and oxygen are carried by the blood to all parts of our body through the circulatory system. Then, the digested food and oxygen combine to produce the energy, water vapor and carbon dioxide needed within the body during the process called respiration.

Every system in our body has their role to keep us healthy and they all have important functions. As we have seen, our circulatory system works very closely with other systems in our body, such as the digestive and respiratory system. But, what will happen to other systems in our body if our respiratory system fails to work properly?

The systems in our body are all important, and if one of them stops working properly, other systems can also be affected by this cause, because oxygen is needed to create a healthy energy along with digested food and water that is needed for cells and other parts of our body working.

#circulatory system #blood pressure #heart sickness