What is Homeostasis?

Normally the level of glucose in the body rises after a person eats a meal. This rise in blood glucose stimulates the beta cells to release insulin. Insulin then either helps body cells take up glucose to use as energy or promotes the conversation of glucose to fat, which are used by the cells later. Some glucose maybe stored in the liver this is called glycogen. Then the level of glucose drops (usually several hours after the meal has been eaten), other cells in the pancreas stimulate the conversion of glycogen to glucose and its release into the bloodstream. In this way, the level of glucose in the bloodstream stays relatively constant until the next meal is eaten.

Homeostasis means keeping a constant internal environment in the body. Homeostasis reaches from every cell up to the whole of the organs and the systems.

Homeostasis is the process of maintaining a fairly constant interval environment. Homeostatic mechanisms help us to be independent of our external environment. It helps us regulate our body temperature, pH, concentration of dissolved substance in the body fluids, concentration of glucose in blood, concentration of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the blood and body fluids, blood pressure and concentration of metabolic wastes. Without it, we wouldn’t be able to survive and adapt to our environment.

Homeostasis is a biological process that maintains a constant internal environment, regardless of what is going on in the external environment. This process ensures the bodily functions and chemicals are kept in a state of balance which in return allows the body to function optimally. Homeostasis requires coordination of the hormonal (endocrine system) and nervous systems, which together regulate the activity of the body’s organ systems. The regulatory activities are constantly adjusted in response to stimuli (change) from both the internal and external environment. A change influenced by the external environment can cause a state in the body that will take it away from the normal, the body will act to counteract this change and return the internal environment back to a steady state. This is negative feedback. Negative feedback has a stabilising effect reducing changes from a set point and returning internal conditions to a steady state. Most body systems e.g. controlling blood glucose levels, obtains homeostasis through negative feedback which makes the negative feedback system critically important in obtaining homeostasis. However there is also positive feedback which is a system that results in the escalation of a response to a stimulus. It causes instability in the system and is used when there is a specific outcome required. Positive feedback ceases once the natural resolution is reached e.g. baby is born, pathogen is destroyed, blood clot forms. This system is not used

Homeostasis is described as the body's ability to maintain internally stable conditions. Each organ plays a huge role in maintaining this stability.

In the human body the internal temperature is maintained at 37 degrees Celsius and this is maintained as a result of homeostasis. Homeostasis is the process of balancing or keeping a stable internal environment in the body. A majority of organ systems in the body contribute to homeostasis, however there are two very important organ systems that play a massive role within this process, and they are the endocrine and nervous system. Both are crucial as they permit communication in the body and the integration of cells as well as tissue functions.

When food is ingested in a person body it is broken down into smaller components including a sugar called glucose. Glucose travels to the cells in our body through the bloodstream and this is made possible due to insulin. As stated earlier insulin is produced by the beta cells and is stored in the pancreas. When the glucose levels go up in a person’s body the pancreas release the stored insulin in order for the glucose to get into the cells. To summarize insulin is what allows for glucose to produce energy. The cells in our body

Diabetes type 2 is a condition in which blood sugar levels are too high. After eating foods that contain carbohydrates, chemicals in the small intestine break down the carbohydrates into simple sugar molecules called glucose. The cell lining of the small intestine absorbs the glucose, which then passes into the bloodstream. When the blood reaches the pancreas, beta cells in the pancreas detect the rising glucose levels. To reduce the glucose level, beta cells release insulin into the bloodstream. As the blood circulates through the body, the insulin and glucose exit the bloodstream into tissue to reach the body’s cells. Most cells of the body have certain receptors on their surface that bind to the circulating insulin. Insulin acts like a key in a lock to open up the cell so that the circulating glucose can get inside the cell. The cell can use the glucose to produce the energy it needs to function properly. If a person has insulin resistance, insulin cannot unlock the cells to let glucose in because the locks, called receptors, are abnormal and/or missing. As a result, glucose is locked out of the cells. The amount of glucose builds up in the bloodstream in a condition called hyperglycemia. To compensate for hyperglycemia, the pancreas produces more and more insulin. Overworked beta cells try to keep with the demand, but gradually lose their ability to produce enough insulin.

Insulin travels through the blood and acts as a key to open up body’s cells and let glucose in. Once inside, the cells convert glucose into energy or store it for later use (Figure 2).

Homeostasis is the body’s way of maintaining a steady balance in the internal organs regardless of fluctuations in the external environment. Homeostasis is an important function in all humans and animals as keeping a stable environment requires constant adjustments as the environment changes. Homeostasis requires the coordination of both the endocrine (hormonal) and nervous systems; they regulate the body’s internal organs.

Alcohol lowers blood glucose levels by stimulating insulin production. This is detected by the beta cells of the pancreatic islets and the secretion of insulin is induced. Each hormone has a very specific protein that it will bind to. These are called hormone receptors and once they are bound to the hormone they stimulate a particular response in the cell. Hormones circulate the bloodstream until they find a cell that has the ideal receptor attached to it. Once insulin is secreted into the bloodstream, the hormone stimulates cells, especially muscle and adipose cells, to take up glucose from the blood. The transport of glucose into cells is done by facilitated diffusion. Glucose cannot get across a membrane unless specific transporters are in the membrane to provide a channel for the glucose to move through. Since it is facilitated diffusion, glucose will be transported from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration (i.e., down the gradient). The transporters of glucose is called GLUT (GLUcose Transporter), the main transporter is GLUT4. As insulin travels through the bloodstream, it finds its specific receptors on the surface of liver cells, muscle cells and adipose cells. When the insulin binds to the insulin receptor on the cell membranes, cells are stimulated to increase the number of glucose transporters. This is an effect allowing the hormone on the outside of the cell to regulate functions inside the cell even though the hormone has not entered the

I think because of my history, people have attached the word resilient to me. I have had a professor and other social worker professionals wonder how I got to where I am when others similar to myself haven't done so well. The concepts above explain a lot and had I a better understanding of the above terms I might be able to explain how I was able to go in and out of modes or through necessity, be able to keep homeostasis without trying.

What is homeostasis? Homeostasis is the ability or tendency of an organism or cell to maintain internal equilibrium by adjusting its physiological processes. (McGraw-Hill) How does the body maintain homeostatic balance? Each organ system helps in some way to maintain homeostasis. However, the organ systems also work together to maintain a constant internal environment. There are seven organ systems (Integumentary, Musculoskeletal, Endocrine, Cardiovascular, Lymphatic, Respiratory, and Nervous) within the body. (McGraw-Hill)

Glucose in your body comes from three major nutrients: fat, protein, and carbohydrate. About, 10 percent of the fat and 50 percent of the protein you eat eventually brakes down into it and 100 percent of the carbohydrates you eat. When a person who does not have diabetes eats any food, their blood glucose level rises; the beta cells detect this rise and release more insulin. The insulin goes into the liver telling it to make less glucose and to the muscles, fat cells to take up more.

Homeostasis is what physiological systems in our bodies do in order to maintain a stable internal environment. Stability is held together by the coordinated responses of the components involved to any stress or unfamiliar situation that the human body is put under that could disrupt its normal functioning conditions. Homeostasis must be maintained constantly in order for our bodies to be able to function properly and not under stress which could have major effects later on in life.