Controlling your body temperature! (Page 32)

Controlling your body temperature! (Page 32)

1. Staying in balance

   • Inside all of the cells of your body, lots of chemical reactions are going on all controlled by enzymes. Your body will not function properly if you body ...
     • Is the wrong temperature
     • Does not have the right amount of water
       • This is because the enzymes cannot work properly
     • Has too much carbon dioxide in the blood.
   • To maintain a constant internal environment, inputs and outputs need to be balanced in the body. This balancing is called homeostasis
   • The factors shown below are kept at steady levels by automatic control systems involving nerves and hormones

2. Body temperature

   • The temperature of the human body is usually kept at around 37 degrees. this is core temperature (at you fingers and toes it will be cooler)

3. How and where body temperature is measured

   • You can measure you body temperature with ...
     • A clinical thermometer in the ear, mouth or anus
     • Temperature sensitive strips on the forehead
     • Digital recording probes on a finger, linked to a computer
   • Scientists and doctors can also use thermal imaging. The heat given off by parts of the body is converted to a visual image. This shows which areas of the body are warmest and coolest.

4. Too hot or too cold

   • It is dangerous if your body temperature goes above or below the core temperature (37 degrees)
     • Above 40 degrees you will get heat stroke and dehydration. If it is not treated you may die.
     • Below 35 degrees your boy develops hypothermia and if not treated this also leads to death.

5. How you body gains and looses heat to keep the core temperature constant.

   • If you internal organs start to get too hot, the blood flowing through them carries the heat away. the increased temperature is monitored by the brain. The brain then brings about mechanisms to control temperature.

6. Key words

   • Homeostasis
     • Keeping the body's internal environment in a steady state