Your lungs are located inside your chest cavity (thorax), on either side of your heart. They rest behind the ribs and are separated from each other by the mediastinum, which contains the heart and other structures
. The right lung is divided into three lobes, and the left lung, which is slightly smaller to accommodate the heart, has two lobes
. The lungs sit above the diaphragm and extend from near the backbone to the front of the chest
. They are enclosed in a protective double membrane called the pleura, which allows smooth movement during breathing
