Let’s say you’re having lunch with a friend of yours, and when you take a bite of your sandwich and swallow, you start to cough uncontrollably. You manage to drink some water and get it under control and your friend explains to you that your sandwich “went down the wrong way”. What do they mean by this and what actually happens when this occurs?
In: Biology
If you look up the anatomy of the throat you will see there are two tubes, the trachea that leads to the lungs, and the esophagus that leads to the stomach. There is a mechanism to switch the track like a train depending on whether you are breathing or initiating swallowing.
When it “goes down the wrong tube” your brain mixed or confused the two, or you didn’t coordinate it properly, which causes water or food to go towards your lungs instead of your stomach.
Edit: in which case your body has a reaction to expel that from your lungs which causes you to cough.
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