An Essay On Homeostasis

Homeostasis

Homeostasis it’s the maintenance of a constant internal environment. It’s how the body keeps conditions inside it the same.

Our bodies need to control things like body temperature and water level to keep them from changing. That’s the process of homeostasis.

Two examples of things that the body keeps the same are:

• The body temperature at 37°C

• The amount of water inside our body

It’s important to keep these two the same because our cells need the right conditions in order to function properly.

Homeostatic control

The receptor is the sensing component that detects and responds when things such as temperature change.

When the receptor detects a stimulus, it sends information to a "control centre"

The control centre determines

After receiving the signal, a change occurs to correct the anomaly by enhancing it with positive feedback or depressing it with negative feedback.

The regulation of body temperature - Thermoregulation

The body’s temperature is monitored by the brain. If our body is too hot or too cold, the brain sends nerve impulses to the skin, which either increase or decrease heat loss from the body’s surface:

• Hairs on the skin trap more warm air if they are standing up, and less if they are lying flat. Tiny muscles in the skin can quickly pull the hairs upright to reduce heat loss, or lay them down flat to increase heat loss.

• If our body is too hot, glands under the skin secrete sweat onto the surface of the skin, to increase heat loss by evaporation. Sweat secretion stops when body temperature returns to normal.

• Vasodilation of blood vessels: Capillaries get wider so large amount of blood can flow near the skin surface. This causes more heat to be carried by the blood to the skin, where it can be lost to the air. When capillaries get smaller, less amount of blood can flow near the skin surface (vasoconstriction). This reduces heat loss through the skin once the body’s temperature has returned to