Breathing Easy - 8/10/2003

A healthy set of lungs should look pink and feel spongy.

That spongy feeling comes from the air sacks in the lungs called alveoli, which is where the body swaps fresh oxygen from the air for used up gas from the body called carbon dioxide.

The alveoli are connected to tubes called bronchioles - tubes that bring the gas into the lungs. The bronchioles are lined with itty-bitty hairs called cilia and a slime called mucous which traps dirt and germs as the air enters the lungs so that only the best stuff - oxygen - reaches the alveoli.

The lungs are really part of a bigger breathing machine in our bodies: the respiratory system. Starting with the mouth and nose, air enters and is pulled into the throat through an air tube we call the pharynx, then into the vocal chords called the larynx and into the trachea, the big forked tube that leads to the bronchioles and the alveoli.

Healthy lungs are ready for dancing, running, swimming and playing music.