The simple act of breathing is often taken for granted. As an automated, life-sustaining function, most of us don't have to think about the act of breathing. However, for many others, respiratory illnesses make this simple act challenging. Emphysema is one of these diseases that takes away well-being, but instead inflicts shortness of breath and a hope of cure. Healthy lung tissue is predominantly soft, elastic connective tissue, designed to slide easily across the chest with each breath. The lungs are covered by visceral pleura which slides fluidly on the parietal pleura of the thoracic cavity thanks to the serous secretion of pleural fluid (Marieb, 2006, p. 430). As you inhale, your lungs expand with air, similar to filling a balloon. The flexible latex of the balloon allows it to expand, just as the flexibility of the lungs and their components allows for expansion. During exhalation, the volume of air decreases causing deflation, similar to the air exiting the balloon. However, unlike a balloon, paired lungs are not filled with empty spaces; the bronchi enter the lungs and subdivide progressively smaller into bronchioles, a network of conducting passages that lead to the alveoli (Marieb, 2006, p. 433). Alveoli are small air sacs in the respiratory area. The respiratory area is also made up of bronchioles and alveolar ducts and is responsible for the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide (Marieb, 2006, p. 433). The target of emphysema is the lungs. The inflammation caused by emphysema damages the alveoli, or air sacs. Over time, the air pockets lose their elasticity, no longer able to expand and shrink like your favorite Thanksgiving elastic waist pants. After so many Thanksgiving dinners, the elastic fibers break down and you make... half the paper... lifestyle keeps your lungs healthy and supple, and after that, I guess it's just down to luck. Luckily, after 54 years of smoking, my mother quit. Now, 14 years later, doctors say his respiratory system is relatively healthy. This leads me to believe that emphysema is not in our genetics. Furthermore, no other smokers in the family developed the disease. Mom attributes her health to always eating breakfast before smoking. There may be something to this, as he doesn't have smokers' cough; alas, his heart was another matter. Works Cited Emphysema. (2009, April 29). Retrieved April 20, 2011, from Mayo Clinic: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/emphysema/DS00296Marieb, E.N., (2006). Essential elements of human anatomy and physiology. San Francisco, CA: Benjamin Cummings.