9781422280317

Chapter One

What Is Respiratory Disease? H ow long can you hold your breath? Try it right now. It’s easy for about 30 seconds. At around 45 seconds, though, you’ll start feeling pressured. After a minute, your heart will start to pound. Breathing is so fundamental to life that we do it without thinking about it. But when breathing stops, it doesn’t take long to notice. The average person can last for weeks without food, days without water, but only about three minutes without air. When you breathe air, you use your body’s respiratory system, which includes your mouth, nose, and lungs. None of the body’s other systems can function without it. The respiratory system delivers the oxygen to your bloodstream that fuels every cell in your body. It also helps to remove your cells’ carbon dioxide waste. When breathing stops, carbon dioxide reaches toxic levels in the bloodstream within minutes and causes death.

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