In: Anatomy and Physiology
Describe why CO2 increases during exercise.
During exercise, two important organs of the body come into action are heart and lungs. The lungs bring oxygen into the body, to provide energy and remove carbon dioxide. The heart pumps the oxygen to the muscles that are doing the exercise.
1. The muscles need more energy while doing exercise or some kind of body work outs. It results in increased gas exchange at the lungs, because of more oxygen in take and more carbon dioxide release.
2. The ratio of carbon dioxide produced per oxygen consumed also increases during exercise because a conversion of fat to carbohydrate takes place.
3. At most challenging work rates, carbohydrates exclusively burns and produce carbon dioxide.
4. Lactic acid plays an important role in releasing of carbon dioxide. Excercise produce more lactic acid and it enters into blood stream and increases blood pH. To maintain a healthy pH, sodium bicarbonate in blood buffers most lactic acid by breaking it into water and carbon dioxide. This results in additional carbon dioxide.