Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Breathing is often taken for granted until it becomes an effort to get air into and out of the lungs. It might be helpful if you understand how air travels through your respiratory system and where the trouble spots can be when you have COPD. If you take a close look at where the air goes when you breathe in and out, you'll see that the path resembles a tree turned upside down. This is why your respiratory system is often referred to as the bronchial tree. Each time you take a breath, air enters through your nose or mouth and continues down the trachea, better known as the windpipe. From here it goes into two sponge-like organs located in your chest called the lungs. Air enters the lungs through two large branches off the trachea known as bronchi. The air then travels deeper into the lungs through smaller bronchi and about a million miniature passageways called bronchioles. The walls of the bronchioles are surrounded by bands of smooth muscle which provide support. At the end of this maze of little branches are tiny, stretchy air sacs which are called alveoli. Each individual air sac is called an alveolus and is surrounded by microscopic blood vessels. The oxygen in the air you breathe travels through the stretchy air sacs into your blood so that it can be used by cells throughout your body. At the same time, carbon dioxide—a waste product—passes from the blood back into the air sacs and leaves the body by traveling back up the same path. This exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide is very important because every cell in the body needs oxygen to function. It takes a constant supply of oxygen for your cells to live. The process of moving air into and out of your lungs is called respiration. A strong wall of muscle located below your lungs, the diaphragm, is the major muscle of respiration. As the diaphragm moves down, it creates suction in the chest and draws in fresh air which expands the lungs. Then, as this muscle relaxes, it returns to its original position and the air is pushed out of the lungs. Conditions which obstruct the flow of air from traveling easily through the respiratory system are called "Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease" or COPD. The three conditions most frequently referred to when discussing COPD are emphysema. chronic bronchitis, and complicated asthma. In each, when the flow of air is blocked— or obstructed— it makes it harder to get enough oxygen to meet the body's needs. Most individuals with COPD have a combination of emphysema, chronic bronchitis, and asthma and may have other chronic respiratory problems, too. In all cases where COPD is suspected, it is important to have proper medical attention to determine which of these diseases is the primary cause of the COPD so that prescribed treatment and self-help techniques can be used effectively. Click here for "Self-Help: Your Strategy for Living with COPD."