This question is most likely just due to a misunderstanding the human body, but how come when my lungs expand, and air rushes in to fill the void, I only feel the suction above my trachea? There’s air at the same pressure below my trachea opening, isn’t there? And there’s gases that are not air inside my stomach, right? Someone set me straight.
In: Biology
At the back of your throat there is a valve called an epiglottis. It’s situated where your Trachea (where your air goes into your lungs) and your Esophagus (where food goes to your stomach) split. It acts as a valve so food or liquid doesn’t go into your lungs. When you breathe, the diaphragm and the rib muscles act to expand your lung region, creating suction, pulling air into your lungs. The reason air doesn’t go into your stomach when you breathe is because there is no suction pulling air into your stomach. The other thing that prevents air from entering the stomach (and stomach fluids from going back up the esophagus) is the sphincter at the top of the stomach. This sphincter is why acid reflux (GERD) is a problem, it can get eroded away by constant contact with stomach acid.
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