Homeostasis and Cardiovascular System Essay Example

The American physiologist Walter Cannon used the term Homeostasis to describe the body’s ability to maintain a constant stable internal environment despite the changes to the external surrounding1,2. The body has a range of receptors these are used to constantly monitor the body’s internal conditions to keep them in physiological limits. To achieve this, every organ works together and thus the body works together as a whole. This requires body to communicate with the organs, this is established through two very highly specialized systems; nervous system and endocrine system, they use electrical impulses and hormones to communicate respectively1. It is vital for our body to maintain homeostasis for our survival, this ability of the body allows us to adapt to our environment which is why we can live in a variety of different settings3.

The mechanism of every homeostatic control has three interdependent components; the receptor, which is a sensor that responds to a change (stimuli) in the environment, by sending information through the afferent pathway to the control center1. The second component, which is the control center, is where the information received is assessed and it is determined whether the conditions are in limits1. The final component is the effector; it uses the information provided by the control center to respond to the change1. The information travels along the efferent pathway from control center to the effector this result in a response to the stimuli1.

There are two different homeostatic mechanisms; a negative feedback and a positive feedback. Which mechanism is in action depends on the stimuli. During negative feedback the mechanism reacts by producing a response to the variable in opposite directions, this is achieved through reducing the intensity or cutting off the output completely2. For example, you have your central heating on but you open your window this would result in losing heat hence, reducing the temperature of the room. This