POST-LECTURE ACTIVITY: RESPIRATORY SYSTEM

 A. ACTIVITY

Briefly explain the main cause or mechanism of increase in respiratory rate or depth and/or respiratory difficulties in the following cases: (one to two sentences only)

1. Initiation of exercise

• When we begin exercising, our bodies immediately expend more energy. As a result, our breathing rate must increase to obtain more oxygen and generate more energy.

2. Moderate exercise

• When we exercise, our blood transports oxygen from our lungs to our muscles. The body's breathing rate increases as the activity level increase to bring more air (oxygen) into the lungs to pump more oxygen into the blood and out to the muscles.

3. Asthma attack

• Asthmatic patients manifest narrowed airways that cause less air to move in and out of the lungs. During an asthma attack, the air becomes trapped inside the lungs, making breathing increasingly difficult.

4. Abrupt ascent into high altitudes

• High altitude has lower air pressure than low altitude or sea level altitude. According to Boyle's law, the partial pressure of oxygen in the air decreases as altitude increases, resulting in less oxygen being breathed in with each breath, consequently increasing respiratory rate. 

5. Pneumonia

• Pneumonia results in an inflammatory response in the lung's air sacs that causes fluid buildup, making breathing difficult.

6. Paralysis of phrenic nerve

• The phrenic nerve plays a crucial role in breathing or respiration. When it is damaged, breathing may be impaired, and you may feel short of breath and have problems sleeping.

7. Severe tuberculosis with resulting lung scar tissue

• Tuberculosis (TB) can cause airway inflammation, which drives airway obstruction and makes the airways smaller. As a result, the lungs become more susceptible to infection and deposition/movement of TB to healthy areas of the lung, making it hard for patients to breathe. 

8. Severe anemia

• Anemia can cause breathing difficulties because the lungs overcompensate to bring in more oxygen.

9. advanced COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)

• Advanced COPD leads to an increase in airflow obstruction, air trapping, and loss of ventilation-perfusion matching (hence gas exchange). Therefore, it results in increased work breathing and mechanical failure of the respiration.

10. Advanced Pregnancy

• The leading cause of ventilatory changes in respiratory function during advanced pregnancy is the physiological alteration of hormonal patterns. Also, as the mother's womb increases in size, the uterus starts to press against the diaphragm, causing shortness of breath.