Homeostasis

                                        Homeostasis

Homeostasis is the rate at which our body is regulated, in each and every single humans body there is either an increase in the effector which makes our normal body temperature decrease. The word ‘internal environment’ means the conditions inside the body environment.

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This diagram shows that when there is an increase in the effector the normal level of a chemical or state of the body decreases and when there is an increase in the normal state of the body there is a decrease in the effector.

The negative feedback helps when something increases for example carbon dioxide, temperature, blood glucose and water, the negative feedback helps to decrease it back to the normal level, also if something decreases the negative feedback will help increase it back to the normal level.

How our body maintains a constant temperature

When our body detects a change in temperature of the blood, information is passed through the processing centre into the brain, this centre is called hypothalamus.

The processing centre also has temperature receptors to recognize alterations in the temperature of the blood. The processing centre repeatedly causes changes to the effectors to confirm our body temperature remains constant, at 37°C.

The effectors are sweat glands and muscles.

When we are too hot or too cold the nerve impulse takes facts from the processing centre onto the skin, which its only way it’s to rise or decrease heat loss from body surfaces

Hairs on the skin trap extra warmth if they are standing up, and less if they are lying flat. Tiny weights in the skin can quickly pull the hairs straight to reduce heat loss, or place them down flat to rise heat loss.

If the body is too warm, glands in the skin secrete sweat on top the surface to increase heat loss by evaporation. This freshens the body. Sweat secretion reduces when the body temperature returns to normal. Glucose is a sugar essential by cells for respiration. It is vital that the concentration of glucose in the blood is sustained at a constant level. Insulin, a hormone secreted through the pancreas, controls blood sugar levels in the body.