Smoking is especially bad for your respiratory system. When you smoke a cigarette, you inhale the smoke into your lungs. This means that your lungs are directly exposed to the 4,000 toxic substances in cigarette smoke. These substances can impair your lungs' ability to function and interfere with the mechanisms that protect your lungs against disease.
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What does the respiratory system do?
The primary function of the respiratory system is to supply your blood with oxygen and expell the waste-product carbon dioxide. The circulatory system can then deliver that oxygen to cells throughout your body. The way the respiratory system carries out this function is through breathing.
Respiration is achieved through the mouth, nose, lungs, diaphragm and trachea. Oxygen initially enters the respiratory system through the nose and mouth when we inhale. The oxygen then passes through the larynx and the trachea, a tube that enters the chest cavity. Inside the chest cavity, the trachea diverges into two smaller tubes called the bronchi. Each individual bronchus divides again forming what's called bronchial tubes. The bronchial tubes lead directly into the lungs where they divide into many smaller tubes that are connected to tiny sacs called alveoli. The oxygen passes into the alveoli and then diffuses through the capillaries into the arterial blood. Simultaneously, waste-rich blood from the veins releases its carbon dioxide into the alveoli where it follows the same path out of the lungs when we exhale. The function of the diaphragm is to assist the pumping of the carbon dioxide out of the lungs and pulling of oxygen into the lungs. When the diaphragm contracts, oxygen is pulled into the lungs and when the diaphragm relaxes, carbon dioxide is pumped out.
Why is the respiratory system important?
The respiratory system is the means by which the blood acquires oxygen. Why do blood cells need oxygen? Without it, they can't move, build, turn food into energy, or reproduce. Cellular respiration is the process by which molecules are oxidized to produce the energy we need to perform all of our daily functions.
