Breathe In, Breathe Out: Why Do We Do It?

[Spammers]

When we do somethin heavy, and repeatedly, we usually breathe in and out a lot, do you know biologically why ?
thanks you a lot

 

[Almeisan]

I am not sure if I understand your question because it is so obvious.

We need to breathe in oxygen so we can burn our food and get energy to get our muscles moving. The faster we breathe the more oxygen in our lungs, in our heart and then also in our muscles.

 

[Monique]

The lungs is the place where exchange of CO2 for O2 takes place. When you do heavy exercise, you will consume a lot of O2 and produce a lot of CO2. If you don't breathe in and out often enough, gas exchange will not take place efficiently since the lungs will become saturated with CO2 quicker. CO2 saturation in the blood sends a signal to the brain to take deeper and faster breathes.

Taking deep, fast breathes when this is not necessary will lead to a drop of CO2 levels in the blood, leading to a feeling of anxiety, which causes you to take even faster breathes, leading to hyperventilation. Breathing in a bag will cause you to breathe in more CO2, bringing blood CO2 levels to a normal level, so that hyperventilation will stop.

 

[Almeisan]

Ooh that's right, its more of an CO2 issue. My bad.

 

[kalladin]

I don't know if this counts.. but when you breathe out CO2, the blood pH buffer system uses protons to make bicarbonate. This effectively decreases your blood pH. This is important because when you do rapid exercise, lactic acid production in the muscles may give you acidosis.