Digestive system : 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training

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Digestive system

• The digestive system is made up of the digestive
  tract, consists of a long tube of organs that
  runs from the mouth to the anus
• includes the esophagus, stomach, small intestine,
  and large intestine, together with the liver,
  gall bladder, and pancreas, which produce
  important secretions for digestion that drain
  into the small intestine.
• The digestive tract in an adult is about 30 feet
  long.
• Digestion is the process by which food is broken
  down into smaller pieces so that the body can use
  them to build and nourish cells and to provide
  energy.
• Digestion involves the mixing of food, its
  movement through the digestive tract and the
  chemical breakdown of larger molecules into
  smaller molecules.
• Every piece of food we eat has to be broken down
  into smaller nutrients that the body can absorb,
  which is why it takes hours to fully digest food.

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Mouth and Salivary Glands

• Digestion begins in the mouth, where chemical and
  mechanical digestion occurs. Saliva or spit,
  produced by the salivary glands is released into
  the mouth.
• Saliva begins to break down the food, moistening
  it and making it easier to swallow.
• A digestive enzyme (called amylase) in the saliva
  begins to break down the carbohydrates (starches
  and sugars).
• One of the most important functions of the mouth
  is chewing. Chewing allows food to be mashed into
  a soft mass that is easier to swallow and digest
  later.
• A flexible flap called the epiglottis closes over
  the trachea (windpipe) to ensure that food enters
  the esophagus and not the windpipe to prevent
  choking.

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Esophagus

• Once food is swallowed, it enters the esophagus,
  a muscular tube that is about 10 inches long.
• The esophagus is located between the throat and
  the stomach.
• Muscular wavelike contractions pushes the food
  down through the esophagus to the stomach.
• A muscular ring at the end of the esophagus
  allows food to enter the stomach, and, then, it
  squeezes shut to prevent food and fluid from
  going back up the esophagus.

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Stomach

• The stomach is a J-shaped organ that lies
  
  between the esophagus and the
  small
  intestine in
  the upper abdomen.
• The stomach has 3 main functions to
  
  store the swallowed food
  and liquid to
  
  mix up the food, liquid, and digestive
  
  juices produced by the
  stomach and to
  
  slowly empty its contents into the small
  
  intestine.
• Only a few substances, such as water and alcohol,
  can be absorbed directly from the stomach. Any
  other food substances must undergo the digestive
  processes of the stomach.
• The stomach's strong muscular walls mix and churn
  the food with acids and enzymes, breaking it into
  smaller pieces. About 3 quarts of the gastric
  juice is produced by glands in the stomach every
  day.
• The food is processed into a semi liquid form.
  About 4 hours or so after eating a meal, then
  slowly released a little at a time through
  a thickened muscular ring between the stomach and
  the first part of the small intestine called the
  duodenum.

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Intestine

• Small intestine
• Most digestion and absorption of
  
  food occurs in the small
  intestine.
  The
  small intestine is a narrow,
  
  twisting tube that occupies most
  
  of the lower
  abdomen between
  
  the stomach and the beginning
  
  of the large
  intestine.
• Small intestine has 2 important
  
  functions. First, the digestive
  process
  is
  completed here by enzymes. Second,
  
  the small intestine absorbs the
  nutrients
  from the
  digestive process.
• Large intestine
• The large intestine forms an upside
  
  down U over the coiled small
  intestine.
• The main job of the large intestine is to remove
  water and salts from the undigested material and
  to form solid waste that can be excreted.

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Organs connected to Digestive tract

• Liver
• Liver is the largest solid organ in the body.
• An organ in the upper abdomen that aids
  
  in digestion and removes
  waste products
  
  and worn-out cells from the blood.
• Form and secrete bile that contains bile
  
  acids to aid in the
  intestinal absorption.
• Pancreas
• A fish-shaped spongy grayish-pink organ,
  
  connected to the duodenum
• It makes pancreatic juices and hormones,
  
  including insulin.
  The pancreatic juices
  
  are enzymes that help digest food in the
  
  small intestine.
  Insulin controls the amount of sugar in the
  blood.
• Gall bladder
• The gallbladder is a small organ that aids in the
  digestive process and stores bile produced in the
  liver.