• Question: What causes coughing ??

    Asked by aiishii to Dalya, Derek, Sarah, Tim, Tom on 18 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Sarah Thomas

      Sarah Thomas answered on 15 Jun 2011:

      The action of a cough is your body’s way of getting rid of substances that are irritating your air passages. This could be an environmental substances like, dust, pollen or smoke or it could be something that you are allergic to. Or you could have an infection that makes your airways inflamed and more sensitive, or produce a lot more mucus which you then have to cough up. These infections can be things like a cold or flu, or bronchitis. Lung cancer also causes a persistent cough, and people that have asthma can have more sensitive airways and cough more.

    • Photo: Dalya Soond

      Dalya Soond answered on 15 Jun 2011:

      To get rid of some irritant, you cough. Coughing can be a reflex to an irritant, in which case it is controlled by your autonomic nervous system, or you can choose to cough, which is controlled by your sympathetic nervous system. In both cases, the smooth muscle cells in your lungs and throat wil constrict. This will expel air 9which is the sound of the cough) and hopefully whatever is irritating you.

    • Photo: Derek McKay-Bukowski

      Derek McKay-Bukowski answered on 15 Jun 2011:

      Coughing is the bodies way of getting rid of anything blocking the airway. It is often something that occurs automatically, as Sarah explained. This is because breathing is so crucial that the body just gets on with it, rather than making you think “oh, I can’t breathe, I wonder if I should cough”.

      But of course, sometimes we do cough and do so deliberately to ease an irritation or make our throats feel a bit better.

      And sometimes we do it to get attention or make a point in the conversation!

      *ahem*

    • Photo: Tim Millar

      Tim Millar answered on 15 Jun 2011:

      Coughing is a reflex response usually to irritants and to remove mucous which we naturally produce.

      There is a chemical in the body called “bradykinin” which if allowed to build up cause the coughing reflex. A common drug known as an ACE inhibitor has this as a side effect because too much bradykinin hangs around in someone taking the drug. If you have grand parents with high blood pressure, they may have a dry cough and its down to their medication!

    • Photo: Tom Crick

      Tom Crick answered on 18 Jun 2011:

      This has been answered very well by the rest of Team Chromium!

      Just a little something extra: the cough reflex consists of three phases: an inhalation, a forced exhalation against a closed glottis (the vocal cords and bits at the back of your throat), and a violent release of air from the lungs following opening of the glottis, usually accompanied by a distinctive sound.

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