Application A small child announces to her parents that she is going to hold her breath until they let her watch more television. Explain how the child's blood carbon dioxide, hydrogen ions, and bicarbonate ions levels change during breath holding.

Breathing is the process of exchange of carbon dioxide and oxygen between the body and the environment. The exchange of gases depends upon the partial pressure of oxygen.

When the individual hold its breath, the amount of oxygen level in the body gets decreased. This increases the carbon dioxide level in the body. The increase in the carbon dioxide level reduces pH and increase the hydrogen ions in the body. The biocarbonate levels in the body also increases.