Major Issues in Homeostasis - Essay Example

The body achieves homeostasis by altering/changing the internal environment rather than keeping it to a static state because a static internal environment cannot sustain and adapt to changes in the external environment and the body may suffer drastic consequences. There are a wide number of changes that occur in the body, e.g. changes in fluid level and temperature changes (Ganong, 2005). If these changes do not occur and the homeostatic mechanism keeps them at a set point for example body temperature which needs to be lowered or increased as per the changes in the external environment and if this temperature is kept at a set point, the body may not be able to survive at all.

Angiotensin and ADH (Antidiuretic hormone) are two major hormones released from the kidneys. These two hormones have a major role in regulating fluid levels of the body (Guyton, 2000). These hormones act to preserve water and excrete concentrated urine when the fluid levels of the body are to be kept high during low intake and extreme summers. The excretion of these hormones from the kidneys stops when intake is enough and diluted urine is excreted.

The homeostatic mechanism at times acts as the sole surviving mechanism of the body. The presence of homeostasis in our body gives us the freedom to work in any weather, day or night, hot or cold, dry or stormy. If there was no homeostasis, we could not have been able to regulate our body temperature. That would have resulted in the hibernation of our species during winters like many other living things. The regulation and adoption of our body's internal environment according to the external environment have provided us with the freedom to work in summers when we could preserve water by excreting concentrated urine, work in winters by preserving heat by peripheral vasoconstriction and erection of skin hair which trap a layer of air preserving body heat. When the body is pushed beyond the limits of homeostatic control, cellular death/necrosis occurs such as frostbite that occurs in extreme cold or stroke that could occur in extreme dehydration when homeostasis fails due to the extremes of temperature (Guyton, 2000).

Maintenance of homeostasis is especially important in a developing embryo since the developing organs require a perfect internal environment to grow in. Also, the metabolic enzymes require specific conditions to function and produce the energy required by the embryo. The absence or failure of a homeostatic mechanism in a developing embryo could lead to in-vitro death or abnormal development and the newborn may not be liable to life (Arora, 2009).