OXYGEN TRANSPORT SYSTEM

Oxygen In order to work and create movement, our muscles need oxygen. You body needs a regular supply of oxygen to stay alive. The working muscles need energy, which is supplied by oxygen. As an activity becomes more demanding the need for oxygen is greater.

How does oxygen reach the muscles? The lungs, heart, blood and muscles all play an important part in the oxygen transport system. The whole oxygen transport system works in a cycle. The respiratory system and the circulatory system work together to provide the muscles with oxygen – this enables you to exercise.

THE RESPIRATORY SYSTEM Enables air to be inhaled (breathed in). When you breathe in, oxygen enters your lungs and is absorbed into your blood which is pumped around your body by your heart. The oxygenated blood allows the cells within your body to use energy to help you exercise so the muscles can produce movement. When your cells produce energy and the muscles use the oxygen up, a waste product called carbon dioxide is produced. The carbon dioxide is carried back to the lungs by the blood; it is then removed from your body when you breathe out. Breathing is an automatic process (you do not think about it) it is controlled by the brain.

THE CIRCULATORY SYSTEM This system consists of the heart and the blood vessels. The heart is a pump, which pushes the blood through the vessels. The blood flows round the body in a continuous system. By contracting and relaxing the heart muscles can pump blood around the body.

With an improved oxygen transport system, the body will be more able to cope with exercise. As a person becomes fitter, less effort is needed for the same amount of work. A regular programme of training will improve the efficiency of the heart and lungs.

MORE BLOOD = MORE OXYGEN The size of the heart will increase. As a result the body’s pump will become bigger and so more blood can be pushed along the vessels per beat. There will be an increase in the number of red blood cells and therefore an increase in oxygen. MORE BLOOD = MORE OXYGEN Regular exercise lowers the heart rate, the lower your heart rate the fitter you are. After exercise the fitter you are the quicker your pulse will return to normal levels

The capacity of the lungs will increase which will give the body more oxygen with each breath. The more oxygen you can take into your lungs the greater your capacity will be for exercise.

Question 1 a) Why do we need oxygen? b) When we exercise which part of the body needs oxygen? c) What parts of the body are involved in the oxygen transport system? d) What two systems work together to produce oxygen for the muscles?

Question 2 What is the function of the respiratory system? What is the function of the circulatory system? What effects will an improved oxygen transport system have on the body? With regular training the efficiency of the heart and lungs will improve. What will happen to the heart and lungs?

carbon dioxide lungs muscles oxygenated Question 3 Fill in the gaps, words can only be used once. carbon dioxide lungs muscles oxygenated As we breathe, oxygen enters the ……. and is absorbed into the bloodstream. The heart pumps this ……. blood to the ……. to help produce movement. However, ……. is then produced and must be absorbed back to the blood, pumped to the heart then onto the lungs, before breathed out.

Question 5 Describe what happens in order for our muscles to get oxygen? What will happen if our muscles are not supplied with sufficient amounts of oxygen? With oxygen = Without oxygen =