Homeostasis-This is a term used by physiologists and refers to maintenance of constant healthy or non-pathological conditions of the internal environment of the body.

There are thousands of homeostatic regulators in our body. When any of these begin to fail, we can develop alterations in our health.

Don't panic if one begins to fail though. Altough one of the thousands of our homeostatic mechanism will begin to fail with age, there are many that attempt to take over and compensate for the damaged one.

Consider blood pressure for example:

Proper blood pressure is essential for survival at the least, and of course, for decent health. Blood pressure is the pressure that blood exerts on the walls of the vessels it travels through.

This is similar to water in a pipe. High water pressure, puts more pressure on the walls of the pipes that contain it. So, imagine putting too much water pressure in a rubber garden hose - this pressure will begin to damage the hose and form a bleb or bubble in it. This is similar in analogy to your blood vessels.

Your blood vessels comprise your circulatory system. And if the circulatory system is mismanaged or damaged in some way through lifestyle, genetics, infection, disease, etc., it's compenent blood vessels will suffer just like a garden hose !

And this is genuis of homeostatic mechanisms using blood pressure as an example. If you're blood pressure becomes too high, your body tries to analyze why this is happening.

-The blood compenents are monitored.. aha, the body notices that too much salt (sdium chloride) in the blood. The body knows that salts attract water - it makes you thirsty ! Therefore, you've drank water, but now the water volume in the blood has increased, causing a greater blood pressure. Don't worry, the homeostatic systems are coming to the rescue.

Your body actually made you thirsty. This extra water was needed, because your kidney will now filter your blood, and use water to rid the blood of its excess salt, by making urine. And as you may know, urine is mostly water (about 96 percent), and that's exactly how homeostasis helped your blood pressure return to normal.

But the sory never ends...

There are many other things that can affect the blood vessels and cause sttresses on them and the circulatory system.

Excess body weight - causes an extra load on the blood vessel - not merely obesity, but other weight gains can do this (eg., pregnancy). This is why women are prone to varicose veins. Varicose veins are dilated veins, that don't allow their internal valves to meet in the middle of the vessel, and thus, blood is allowed to "pool". This is why, it's good to walk and give the legs a little help pumping the blood, when you're pregnant.

But wait ! Even if you're not pregnant, sitting long hours at a desk can also allow blood to pool in your lower body. This is why a good walk for a few minutes is helpful in preventing and even dealing with varicose veins.

Even high cholesterol can cause "blockages" in blood vessels ! If this happenns in the heart, that area of the heart can become damaged through insufficient blood supply, resulting in myocardial infarction (heart attack).

How does the body's homeostatic control mechanisms try to help here?

When some blood vessels are clogged, the tissues that are now NOT receiving proper amounts of blood can produce and expel chemical messengers in the immediate area - this causes new micro-vessels to slowly form in hopes of keeping the tissue supplied with fresh blood.

The body really does try.

you will find mechanisms listed throughout the site and I will be listing them for you as well.



CSF - Cerebrospinal Fluid.

CSF -low CSF and SIH..

Gastro-intestinal.