LACTIC ACID FERMENTATION!

Question

When you go for a long walk or exert effort when working on something, you will surely experience muscle fatigue or very tired. You will notice that you gasp to breath. Explain your answer in two to four sentences why you have to gasp for your breath when you are tired?

Answer 1

This has to do with what happens when your body gets low on oxygen. With not enough O₂ (which is the final electron acceptor at the end of the electron transport chain in aerobic cellular respiration), your muscle cells have had to switch to fermentation. But this produces lactate as a by-product, which has negative consequences (such as feeling tired and muscle pain). Eventually your body needs to convert the lactate back to pyruvate and continue with aerobic cellular respiration. The heavy breathing helps to get your oxygen levels back up!