You Stop Breathing Every Time You Swallow

Day 15 of 100 Days of Random Learning. Today I learnt that you stop breathing every single time you swallow, and that swallowing is not one action. It's three, and you're only in control of the first one. The medical name for swallowing is deglutition, and it happens in three phases. The first is the oral phase. You chew, saliva mixes in and forms the food into a soft ball called a bolus, and your tongue pushes it to the back of your throat. This part is voluntary. You can stop, spit it out, change your mind. The second is the pharyngeal phase, and this is where you lose control. The moment the food touches the back of your throat, a reflex takes over and you cannot stop it. In about one second, the roof of your mouth lifts to block off your nose, a flap called the epiglottis folds down over your windpipe, and your breathing stops completely. Then the food passes over the closed airway into the food pipe. Your food pipe and your airway share the same entrance. One door, two roads. That flap has to close at exactly the right moment every single time. When it doesn't, that's choking. The third is the oesophageal phase. Muscles in your oesophagus squeeze in a wave called peristalsis, pushing the food down like squeezing toothpaste through a tube. It takes about eight seconds. Because it's a muscle wave and not gravity, you can swallow lying down or standing on your head, and astronauts in zero gravity eat and drink normally. The food isn't falling. It's being carried. And you do all of this around 600 times a day, mostly just swallowing your own saliva, without ever noticing once. Swallow right now and see if you can feel the pause. This video is general information and is not medical advice. #Deglutition #Swallowing #HumanBody #Anatomy #100DaysOfRandomLearning #DidYouKnow #Biology #LearnSomethingNew #HealthFacts #Nigeria New video every day for 100 days. Subscribe so you don't miss the next one