The Respiratory system

The main purpose of the respiratory system is to supply the blood with oxygen in order for the blood to circulate the oxygen to the rest of the body. The body needs oxygen to release the energy from food, in a reaction know as respiration. When we breathe in (inhale) we take in oxygen and when we breathe out (exhale) we are removing carbon dioxide.

We breathe using muscles around the lungs and the diaphragm. When we breathe in, the diaphragm contracts and pushes down. This allows the lungs to expand and air to be sucked in. When we breathe out, the diaphragm relaxes, making the lungs smaller and the air is pushed out.

DEMONSTRATION: MODEL LUNGS IN A JAR

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

Breathing is normally an unconscious action, but we realise that muscles are involved when we try to breathe out fully.

The largest volume of air that you can breathe in or out at one time is called your vital capacity.

Class Practical Activity: How much air can you force out of your lungs? ___________

The highest volume of air exhaled was __________________

The lowest volume of air exhaled was ___________________

Pathway of the air:

After entering your body, the air moves into a narrow tube called the trachea (wind pipe). There is a flap at the top, called the epiglottis, which stops food going down the wrong pipe. The trachea divides into two narrower tubes called the bronchi (or bronchus). Inside the lung, each tube branches into many smaller tubes called bronchioles. The bronchioles branch out, getting smaller and smaller until they end at tiny air sacs called alveoli.

The Alveoli is where the process called gas exchange takes place. Oxygen is transferred from the alveoli into the blood, and carbon dioxide is transferred from the blood back into the alveoli and then breathed out. Gas exchange can happen because the Alveoli are only one cell thick! They also have lots of tiny blood vessels next to them, so the Oxygen doesn’t have far to go.

Why do you think smokers have more trouble breathing or are often short of breath?

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

Why do you think asthmatics can sometimes struggle to breathe?

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

Could smokers and asthmatics be given the same treatment to help them breathe?

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

Practical Activity: Breathing Rate

We now know what the respiratory system does. We know how breathing works. How does the breathing rate change with different conditions?

Task:

• A student places a hand just below the chest cavity of their partner and observes that they can feel the rise and fall of the chest cavity with each breath. You must count the number of breath’s in a minute:

What do you notice about the link between the number of breaths and the conditions?

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

How can you explain this observation?

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

Condition Partner: Self:

Sitting

Standing

Immediately after 1 lap of the primary school oval

Label the diagram using the terms at the bottom:

Smoking ban worksheet

Read the BBC News article: “Smoking bans cut asthma and premature births by 10%, study says” below and answer the following questions.

1. What are the main findings of international study about smoking bans published in the Lancet magazine?

2. The research team was based in many countries. List the number of countries involved in the study

3. When was the smoking ban introduced in England?

4. The article also voices the opinion of a smokers group. What do they say?

5. What do you think, was it right to ban smoking in public spaces?

6. Should smoking be banned in all PUBLIC places such as streets and parks? Why?

HEALTH28 March 2014 Last updated at 01:24 GMT

Smoking bans cut asthma and premature births by 10%, study says

Laws banning smoking in public places have had a positive impact on child health, an international study in the Lancet suggests.

Researchers found a 10% reduction in premature births and severe childhood asthma attacks within a year of smoke-free laws being introduced.A research team analysed 11 previous studies from North America and Europe.The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists said smoking bans benefitted adults and children.

'Clear evidence'This is one of the first large studies to look at how anti-smoking laws in different countries and states are affecting the health of children living in those regions.Laws that prohibit smoking in public places, such as bars, restaurants and workplaces, have already been shown to protect adults from the dangers of passive smoking.In this study, researchers from the University of Edinburgh, Maastricht University, Hasselt University in Belgium, Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital looked at more than 2.5 million births and almost 250,000 hospital attendances for asthma attacks in children.

Dr Jasper Been, lead study author from the Maastricht University Medical Centre in The Netherlands, said the research on children under 12 was revealing."Our study provides clear evidence that smoking bans have considerable public health

benefits for perinatal and child health, and provides strong support for WHO recommendations to create smoke-free public environments on a national level."

The study also found a 5% decline in children being born very small for their age after the introduction of smoke-free laws. Co-author Professor Aziz Sheikh, of Brigham and Women's Hospital, in Boston, Massachusetts, and the University of Edinburgh, said there was potential to improve the health of more children."The many countries that are yet to enforce smoke-free legislation should in the light of these findings reconsider their positions on this important health policy question."

Previous research suggests that 40% of children worldwide are regularly exposed to second-hand smoke, which has been shown to be a cause of respiratory disease and a trigger for asthma attacks in children. Recent European research also showed that passive smoking causes thickening of children's arteries, which can increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes in later life.Experts say children are particularly vulnerable to the negative effects of second-hand smoke because their lungs and immune systems are still developing.

At present, 16% of the world's population is covered by smoke-free laws. Scotland introduced a ban on smoking in enclosed public places in 2006, and England in 2007. Commenting on the study, Professor Ronnie Lamont from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists said the study provided further evidence that smoking bans had substantial health benefits for adults and children."Smoking during pregnancy has been shown to have adverse effects on foetal development and pregnant women need to be informed of the risks and should be offered advice and support to help them give up. "It is important that healthcare professionals encourage women to lead a healthy lifestyle." The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists said it supported recommendations for further implementation of smoke free environments.

'Gross overreaction'A Department of Health spokesman said it wanted to build on the smoking ban by making it illegal for adults to buy cigarettes for children and to smoke in cars carrying children."We are also stopping tobacco being sold from vending machines and increasing the tax on tobacco and banning displays," it said.

But Simon Clark, director of the smokers' group Forest, said children tended to be exposed to second-hand smoke in the home, "so workplace smoking bans would have little or no impact on children". "If the report is suggesting that environmental tobacco smoke is the only or principal cause of childhood asthma, that's ridiculous," he said."In the UK the number of people suffering from asthma has tripled in the last 40 years. During that same period the number of people who smoke has halved and today relatively few children are exposed to tobacco smoke in confined spaces such as homes and cars."Mr Clark added that calling for more countries to introduce comprehensive smoke-free legislation was "a gross overreaction”.

ANSWERS:

Q1.________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

Q2. ________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

Q3.________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

Q4.________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

Q5.________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

Q6.________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________