Describe How Thermoregulation Plays An Important Role In Homeostasis

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Human beings (endothermic homeotherms) maintain their core body temperature around 37°C (98.6° F) by homeostasis in response to changes in the surrounding temperatures and do so through conduction, convection, radiation and evaporation. The hypothalamus of the brain, kidneys and liver are the organs that help control homeostasis and it is thermoregulation that plays a vital role in homeostasis for the stability of our body temperature.

Homeostasis, keeping the balance: An important role in homeostasis is played but the endocrine system, as it uses hormones to regulate body cell activity. Stimulus controls the amount of hormones being released into the blood. Such responses to stimulus change the inside conditions and could become new stimuli
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Hypothalamus, responsible for controlling the core body temperature, also contains temperature receptors to recognize changes in the blood temperature as it flows past the brain (Reece et al., 2011). The activated thermoregulatory center then responds to the increased external temperature by sending nerve impulses to effectors such as sweat glands and muscles. Sweat glands secrete sweat onto the surface of the skin, which evaporates thus cooling the body by getting rid of heat while blood vessels beneath the skin dilate (vasodilation), due to increase in heartbeat, causing capillaries to fill with warm blood. Heat is then radiated from the skin surface and rate of heat loss is increased to balance heat burden (Kenney, n.d.). Vasodilation also causes the muscles to relax in order to lower the hairs on the skin whereby air becomes circulated over and across the skin, stimulating more convection, evaporation and radiation. After sweat is lost, the receptors will send signals of thirst to the hypothalamus and to the pituitary gland, where it produces anti-diuretic hormone (ADH) which decreases urine volume (Kenney, n.d.). The body temperature then decreases to a steady state which causes the thermostat to shut off its cooling

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