Our airways are designed to carry gasses and non-solid materials. To have anything in our airways that is larger than a speck of dust can be detrimental to our lung health and cause our lungs to become damaged or not work to their full capacity. Should something move down our larynx and into our trachea (windpipe) that could cause harm, our body reflexively attempts to jettison the obstruction.
Coughing is an automatic reaction controlled by our spinal cord and brain stem. When the hair-like appendages in the respiratory tract (cilia) encounter a problem, they send a signal saying the lungs need to be cleared. The brain stem then tells our diaphragm, the large muscle below our rib cage, to contract, quickly forcing out a lot of air in an attempt to clear out whatever may have been trying to make its way into our lungs.
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