What is the function of the respiratory system and the heart?

Let’s first try to understand the basic concepts of the respiratory system. The human respiratory system contains a group of tissues and organs that help us to breathe.

What are the different parts of the respiration system?

The respiratory system consists of multiple organs that work together to help us breathe. Each group has multiple separate components. Lungs are one of the major organs of the respiratory system that help in the exchange of gases. The other parts of this system consist a series of airways for air passages, blood vessels, and the muscles that facilitate breathing.

Airways also play a major role that supplies air to the lungs. The airways are a complicated system that includes your:

• Nose and mouth: Openings that pull air from outside our body into the respiratory system.
• Sinuses: Hollow areas between the bones in your head which assist to regulate the humidity and temperature of the air that we inhale.
• Pharynx (throat): Tube which delivers air from our nose and mouth to the trachea (windpipe).
• Trachea: Passage connecting our lungs and throat.
• Bronchial tubes: Tubes at the bottom of the windpipe connect into each lung.
• Lungs: Two organs that eliminate oxygen from the air and pass it into the blood.

What are the functions of the respiration system?

Here are the major functions of the human respiration system:

1. Inhalation and Exhalation (Breathing): The respiratory system helps in breathing, which is also known as pulmonary ventilation. Air is breathing in through the nasal and oral cavities in pulmonary ventilation. It moves through the larynx, trachea, and pharynx into the lungs. Then air is breathing out, flowing back via the same route.
2. External Respiration Exchanges Gases Between the Lungs and the Bloodstream: Oxygen is exchanged for CO2 waste inside the lungs. This process is known as external respiration. This respiratory process happens through hundreds of millions of microscopic sacs called alveoli.
3. Internal Respiration Exchanges Gases Between the Bloodstream and Body Tissues: The bloodstream provides oxygen to cells as well as eliminates waste CO2 through internal respiration which is another major function of the respiratory system. Red blood cells transmit oxygen absorbed from the lungs around the body via the vasculature in this respiratory process. The red blood cells discharge the oxygen when oxygenated blood enters the narrow capillaries. It diffuses into body tissues through the capillary walls. Subsequently, CO2 diffuses from the tissues into plasma and red blood cells.
4. Provides chemical sensations: When the air moves in the cavities, some chemicals in the air bind to and activate nervous system receptors on the cilia. This stimulus sends a signal to the brain. Neurons of the brain receive the signal from the nasal cavities through openings in the ethmoid bone, and then to the olfactory bulbs.

What is the function of the heart?

The heart is a network of blood vessels that transports blood to every part of our body and situated at the center of your circulatory system. Blood transmits oxygen and other important nutrients that all body organs need to work properly and to stay healthy.

It consists of four chambers:

• The right atrium gets blood from the veins and pumps it to the right ventricle.
• The right ventricle gets blood from the right atrium and pumps it to the lungs, where it is loaded with oxygen.
• The left atrium obtains oxygenated blood from the lungs and pumps it to the left ventricle.
• The left ventricle, which is the strongest chamber pumps oxygen-rich blood to the rest of the body. While, the left ventricle’s vigorous contractions create our blood pressure.

The four major functions of our heart are:

• As I have already mentioned one of the major functions of the heart is pumping oxygenated blood to the other body parts.
• Pumping hormones as well as other important substances to various parts of the body.
• Getting deoxygenated blood as well as transporting metabolic waste products from the body and pumping it to the lungs for oxygenation.
• Maintaining our blood pressure.

I hope you have understood the function of our respiratory system and the heart clearly. I will suggest you go through the NCERT biology book to understand it more properly. If you are facing problem during the visualization, I will suggest you go through some video lectures which involve animated diagrams for a better understanding.