why do we breathe automatically?

Answer 1

OK, in my science class I was learning about our muscles. We have three kinds of muscles, skeletal, smooth, and cardiac. Our muscles can be either involunatry or voluntary muscles. The skeletal muscles are voluntary muscles because we have to think about moving our arm or doing something like that. While breathing is a involuntary muscles, it does it on it's own. Cardiac and smooth muscles are both involuntary muscles such as breathing, heartbeats and digesting food, they all work on their own without you having to think a bout it. Now you may say that well I can hold my breath, thats voluntary right? Wrong. Try holding your breath and when you have to breathe, that is involuntary muscles at work. I hope that this explains it all.

Answer 2

Except under some diseased states, our breath by breath regulation is normally dependent on blood CO2 levels, not oxygen. We can hold our breath for quite some time before oxygen content in the blood begins to drop to dangerous levels. However, CO2 will very quickly rise to a level that causes more immediate problems for the body, and so the burning desire to breathe when you hold your breath is because your body wants to ventilate away the CO2.

This is too much to have to concentrate on consciously all the time. How could we focus on things like hunting, defending ourselves, socializing, etc, if we had to constanly monitor our CO2 levels and adjust ventilation rates accordingly? How could we sleep?

That's the why. The how is a lot more complicated, but in a nut shell there are areas of the brainstem that can monitor blood CO2 levels (as well as pH and O2), and if these levels get out of wack, impulses are sent to the diaphram and intercostals to initiate a breath. Since CO2 will quickly rise again, another signal is sent soon after, and this is how a rhythm is achieved; the rhythm of your breathing is determined by the rate at which CO2 is rising. Unless of course you decide to send your own voluntary impulses to the diaphram and intercostals.

Answer 3

Breathing, heart beating, blinking, etc. are part of our autonomic nervous system. These functions are automatic because they are required to sustain life. If we had to think about it we could never go to sleep.

Answer 4

Could you imagine needing to tell yourself to breathe ever second of the day? We couldn't live our lives, we would all have to sit and concentrate on telling ourselves to breathe. Plus, we would die while sleeping.

Answer 5

Its to thing that protect us from die
For Example Like your stomach growls and moans to Protect you from starvation by letting you know its time to eat
So we breathe automactically to protct us fromo dying especially when were sleep

Answer 6

Breathing is called an involuntarily reflex. It is something that occurs naturally.

Answer 7

bcuz we cant hold too much carbon monoxide in our bloodstream so ur lungs automatically expand wen there is too much carbon monoxide in ur blood stream(yes! carbon monoxide is IN ur blood stream) so then ur forced to breathe and it turns into carbon dioxide when u breathe iut! very fascinating.

Answer 8

it is controlled by a very primative part of the brain, which keeps up peforming the basic functions of life without us having to think about them. this is considered lower brain function, where talking and thinking is considered higher brain function.

Answer 9

we don't breathe automatically we make ourselves breathe cuz look hold your breath and then you will eventually make yourself breathe =]]]

Answer 10

Because the brain keeps sending impulses to the organs to do so.