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CarbonRobot CarbonRobot
wrote...
Posts: 393
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9 months ago
I know a lung's elasticity may change with age, but how does it's ability to give us oxygen and expell carbon dioxide?

It has been brought to my attention that when we burn fat it leaves as carbon dioxide and water. I am wondering if age related lung deficits are a big factor in keeping people overweight with age? Maybe people with only one lung hold onto fat more?
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wrote...
Educator
9 months ago
The process that converts fat to energy releases CO2 and water as a waste product, that part is true. However, a decline in lung function is not a limiting process to this process; the two are independent of one another. Furthermore, it is not so much that the lungs lose elasticity, but more so the diaphragm, As a person ages, the  intercostal muscles become weak. This reduces the movement of the chest wall. Elasticity of the diaphragm, not necessarily of the lungs, is lost, and the diaphragm flattens, or tightens. The respiratory rate of well older adults slows, not increases, with age.

CarbonRobot Author
wrote...
9 months ago
What do you think limits fat burning ability?
wrote...
Educator
9 months ago
What do you think limits fat burning ability?

The way I see it is that older people move less because of stiff muscles and joints, which leads to a lack of mobility. Less mobility gives your body less reason to burn fat, which is technically a way to convert stored energy into usable energy.
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