“Breathe In, Breathe Out”

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

Imagine that you just finished running one of the longest races of your life.

You are panting and having a hard time breathing. You do not want to think of anything else other than making sure you can rest and catch your breath. But you may be wondering,

• “Why is it so important for us to breathe? The air comes in and goes right back out again. So what is the importance of breathing?”

Stand up and run in place for one minute. Once your minute is up, stand still and try to hold your breath for 5 seconds. Isn't that hard? All you want to do is keep breathing! You may even be panting!

• Have you ever tried to hold your breath underwater?

If you have, you know that as soon as you reach the surface of the water, you will be gasping for air.

• Why is air so important to your body?

Come and join Dr. Jo to see what she can teach us about why we need to breathe!

As Dr. Jo showed you in the video, the diaphragm is a very important structure in the body that is needed in order to help you breathe. Everyone needs to breathe because our bodies needs oxygen to help our cells process the fuel (or food) we take in, so it can be turned into energy! This all happens because of our lungs! Since everyone needs to breathe, that means everyone has a diaphragm! Everyone’s lungs hold a different amount of air, and it is amazing to see how much air our lungs can take in at one time!

• Do you know that an average person can take up to 23,040 breaths per day?

That is a LOT of air going in and out of your lungs!

Continue on to the Got It? section to see if your brain cells have gotten enough air!