Most people don’t spend much time pondering about their lungs and breathing. Although it would be much better if everyone paid closer attention to it.
Taking time to breathe properly every day can greatly reduce stress and anxiety.
Continue reading to learn 10 more fun facts about your lungs and breathing.
1. The right lung is larger than the left lung to make more room for the heart. I bet you always pictured them being exactly the same on both sides.
2. We only use a small amount of oxygen in the air. Normal outdoor air has just 21 percent oxygen, but we only use about 5 percent of it. The rest of it just gets exhaled.
3. You can get rid of 70 percent of waste just by breathing. The waste product is mostly carbon dioxide (CO2) that the lungs draw from the body and gets rid of when you exhale. In addition to waste, we lose a significant amount of water when we breathe out. Humans lose about 1.18 ounces of water every two hours with normal breathing.
4. Your sinuses regulate the humidity levels and temperature of the air that you breathe.
5. Your lungs shrink in size as you get older, making it harder to breathe.
6. Regular exercise keeps your lungs healthy.
7. Women and children breathe faster than men do.
8. Some people can hold their breath for a very long time. If they practice a specific hyperventilation method before going under, they can increase their oxygen levels and decrease their carbon dioxide levels so much that they can hold their breath for 20 minutes!
9. You can live with just one lung. If you get hurt and one of your lungs is injured, you can survive on your other lung until you can get urgent medical help. If you get lung cancer, you can get one removed and live with the other lung!
10. The lungs produce blood cells. Also, the lungs get as much blood pumped to them as the rest of the body gets! It takes half of your body’s blood to keep the lungs functioning!
There you have it, ten very interesting facts about lungs and breathing. Perhaps now when you are inhaling and exhaling during your daily life, you might consider some of these fun facts. Share these with your friends and family, and see how many of these facts they already knew.