HUMAN BODY IS A LABORATORY

From Sampath’s Desk:

 

 

HUMAN-BODY IS A PERFECT LABORATORY, IS’NT IT?

 

The word ‘laboratory’ would make one normally visualize a chemical laboratory in a big hall with glass beakers and utensils, test-tubes, chemicals, masks, gloves, wash-basins, hand-washes, etc. where a number of people work for testing, developing, culturing, and producing substances. We have also wondered and praised many state-of-the-art and technically high-end laboratories available across the world including India. But have we ever realized that the human-body itself is both a physical and chemical laboratory in that lot of lab-like activities are carried on from tip to toe daily without stop 24x7 365 days.

 

Let us start with the head, home to our brain - a wonderful 3-pound organ - protected within the skull, and its functions. A physical laboratory that a brain is - has three main parts – cerebrum, cerebellum and brainstem. The cerebrum is the largest part of the brain and is composed of the right and left hemispheres. It performs functions like interpreting touch, vision and hearing as well as speech, reasoning, emotions, learning, and fine control of movement. The cerebellum is located under the cerebrum. Its function is to coordinate muscle movements, maintain posture, and do physical balancing. The brainstem acts as a relay centre connecting the cerebrum and cerebellum to the spinal cord, which controls many automatic functions such as breathing, heart rate, body temperature, wake and sleep cycles, digestion, sneezing, coughing, vomiting and swallowing. The cerebrum is divided into two halves, the right and left hemispheres. Each hemisphere controls the opposite side of the body. What an amazing mechanism is it?

 

Lungs are a pair of spongy, air-filled organs located on either side of the chest (thorax). The trachea (windpipe) conducts inhaled air into the lungs through its tubular branches called ‘bronchi’ which is divided into smaller branches (bronchioles), finally becoming microscopic. Needless to say, the lungs are doing the most important job of inhaling and exhaling air and supply of oxygen to all the tissues through the blood to keep us alive. Carbon dioxide, a waste product of metabolism is breathed out.

 

Human heart is a finely-tuned instrument that serves the whole body. It is a muscular organ around the size of a closed fist and it sits in the chest, slightly to the left of the centre. The heart beats around 100000 times a day, pumps about 7200 litres (1900 gallons) of blood daily through the body, and delivers oxygen and nutrient-rich blood to tissues and organs. It also carries away wastes.

 

Then comes the stomach. Food, shelter and clothes are life necessaries. The stomach is where the eaten foods are digested and the nutritious output is supplied to the body through blood. What a mind-blowing arrangement; isn’t it? It is here digestive hormones like gastrin, somatostatin, cholecystokinin, secretin, gastric inhibitory peptide, and enteroglucagon are produced for digestion of food. Still astonishing truth about stomach is that it can sense, independently of the tongue and oral taste receptors, glucose, carbohydrates, proteins, fats, and sodium glutamate via the vagus nerve which allows the brain to link the nutritional value of foods to their tastes.

 

Kidneys do the sanitary functions inside our body. They filter wastes and excess fluids from the blood which are then excreted in the urine. Bile production and excretion of bilirubin, cholesterol, hormones and drugs - metabolism of fats, proteins and carbohydrates - enzyme activation - storage of glycogen, vitamins and minerals - synthesis of plasma proteins such as albumin and clotting factors – are the main functions of the liver, among others. Liver function is necessary to generate appetite in us. Pancreas is a gland organ located in the abdomen. It is part of the digestive system and produces insulin and other important enzymes and hormones that help break down food items consumed. Pancreas also produces the hormone 'insulin' and secretes it into the bloodstream where it regulates the body’s glucose or sugar levels. Problems with insulin control can lead to diabetes. The functions of eyes, nose, ears, mouth, legs and hands need no emphasis at all. And the rectum and anus have their own functions.

 

And once a child is born, the system in the mother readies milk for the new-born so that the offspring can be fed to remain healthy, stay immune and protected against diseases. What a magic human body God has created! And mother’s milk is the best bet for the infant in maintaining immunity shutting the doors of ill-health in infants on key health aspects and parameters.   

 

If only all our organs function in cooperation, coordination and in tandem with each other, one will keep robust health. Even if one were to malfunction, cease to function, or under-function, one will get some ailment, disease, syndrome, defect, deficiency, etc. Production of hormones, or other fluids and juices inside the body should be in adequate quantities. Either more or less, it will cause health problems, an example being hyperthyroidism (excess production) or hypothyroidism (short production). In both cases, one may have to be on continuous medication. If one or more organs were to go astray, refuse to function, over-function or under-function, we get health problems.

 

The foregoing paragraphs have of course covered most of the organs in our human laboratory and their functions. However, there are some more. Shouldn’t we thank GOD, THE ALMIGHTY for the establishment of such a lively and vibrant laboratory in the human body? Discerning minds would wonder the fine, well-designed and elegant and mind-blowing laboratory functioning in the human body. No further explanation is necessary and one needs to experience it for greater appreciation.

 

(R.SAMPATH)

2/12/2020