Homeostasis

Have you ever been running on a hot day and started sweating? Or out in the snow and started to shiver? Do you know why your body does either of these? In fact these are just two of the many things that your body can do to maintain a normal body temperature. Homeostasis is the ability to maintain a relatively stable internal condition even though the outside world is a ever changing environment.



Everyone sweats and many may think that it makes you hotter, but it actually makes you cooler. It is our bodies easiest way to cool down, and without it we wouldn't be able to stand the heat our body gives off naturally. We all sweat throughout the day and even when we are doing simple activities like laying down or watching TV, basically you sweat for a good portion of the day. That is why you are supposed to drink at least a liter of water a day. Because when you are running on a hot day you can have as many as two million sweat glands trying to cool your body down.



I've always thought that shivering was one of the weirdest functions a body went through, but it actually has a purpose. It is triggered by the brain, which constantly sensors our temperature, and if we get to cold we shiver to warm up. Shivering is actually when the muscles expand and contract quickly, which burns a lot of energy and is usually the bodies last resort to get to a normal temperature. Another way the body stays warm is by increasing metabolism, just another way to burn energy and produce heat.

Without Homeostasis we would all inevitably overheat and die, or die of hypothermia. It is one of the many amazing functions the body has though, thankfully it is a subconscious function that we don't have to monitor.



This is what the body does to maintain a normal homeostasis.