Homeostasis Interest

[Perianne]

Homeostasis

Walter Cannon, an American physiologist of the early twentieth century, coined the term "homeostasis" to describe the body's ability to maintain relatively stable internal conditions even though the outside world changes continuously.

An important part of nursing is teaching patients and patients' families about their illnesses, treatments, and preferred lifestyles after they leave the hospital. Most patients and families have limited knowledge about medicine. Using medical terms like "CABG" and "postictal" have very little meaning to the average person. The nurse has to learn how to speak on a level the average person can understand.

In order to provide the best nursing care, I periodically find myself studying subjects in medicine which with I feel a little rusty. It occurred to me that others may be interested in this subject. This will be a great opportunity to brush up on my learning AND possibly help others learn something new about the human body, like:

What is the normal temperature of the human body? What is the normal pH? What is the normal saltiness? What is the normal level of sugar in the blood? Normal blood pressure? Heart rate? How are these levels controlled by the human body? What happens when the levels get out of normal ranges?

These questions and much more would be answered in upcoming threads….if there is interest.

Please add a post to this thread if you have an opinion about this subject. If there is a reasonable amount of interest, I will go forward.

[Perianne]

I saw that only one person had read this thread. Apparently if it's not it the top ten, most people don't read a thread. So bump.

[Perianne]

I saw that only one person had read this thread. Apparently if it's not it the top ten, most people don't read a thread. So bump.

[Perianne]

Bumping again.

[Drummond]

Homeostasis

Walter Cannon, an American physiologist of the early twentieth century, coined the term "homeostasis" to describe the body's ability to maintain relatively stable internal conditions even though the outside world changes continuously.

An important part of nursing is teaching patients and patients' families about their illnesses, treatments, and preferred lifestyles after they leave the hospital. Most patients and families have limited knowledge about medicine. Using medical terms like "CABG" and "postictal" have very little meaning to the average person. The nurse has to learn how to speak on a level the average person can understand.

In order to provide the best nursing care, I periodically find myself studying subjects in medicine which with I feel a little rusty. It occurred to me that others may be interested in this subject. This will be a great opportunity to brush up on my learning AND possibly help others learn something new about the human body, like:

What is the normal temperature of the human body? What is the normal pH? What is the normal saltiness? What is the normal level of sugar in the blood? Normal blood pressure? Heart rate? How are these levels controlled by the human body? What happens when the levels get out of normal ranges?

These questions and much more would be answered in upcoming threads….if there is interest.

Please add a post to this thread if you have an opinion about this subject. If there is a reasonable amount of interest, I will go forward.

One thought I have about all this is that, yes, there are definite and precise answers to the questions posed. However .. are these answers set just for the sake of having to draw a line in the sand ?

Normal temperature of the human body ... 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit ... but once thought to be 98.4. Normal pH ... I think 5.5 ? But is that universally true ? Normal blood pressure .. unsure, but something like 125 over 80 ? Mine is 'normally' 150 over 90, and has averaged out as that for many years ... and I remain in good health.

The more the human body gets out of those ranges, the greater the likelihood of ill health. But, are any of these measurements set in stone ?

I think that people differ, and normally so, to a greater extent than is generally accepted, AND remain healthy regardless. The margin for healthy difference, in my view, isn't sufficiently taken into account by the medical profession.

[Perianne]

Drummond, those are excellent questions. And they are ones I would address in upcoming posts....if there is adequate interest. Each post of mine would require many, many hours of study, so I wouldn't do it just for the heck of it.

As far as blood pressure, your 150/90 may work for you and apparently it is. In notes I have read, physicians routinely will document something like "patient X has blood pressure of 150/90, but that is normal for that patient", so they choose not to treat it.

Normal pH of human blood is within a vary narrow range of 7.35 to 7.45. How the body regulates pH is the most interesting of all the medical subjects to me. And in this case, yes, the range of safe pH IS set in stone. Staying significantly outside that range is considered fatal.