Homeostasis- Human Body Regulation

Name ______Date ______Period ______Score _____

Objectives

  1. Understand how the human body regulates temperature and how a fever fights infection
  2. Explore ways in which the human body self-regulates to maintain homeostasis
  3. Learn how the immune system fights infection
  4. Explore how an extreme environment can affect the body's ability to maintain homeostasis

Part 1:

  1. What is considered to be normal body temperature?
  1. Why do you think that normal body temperature is as high as the temperature on a hot summer day?
  1. How do you think an organism and its cells would be helped by a warm temperature?

Part 2:

  1. Create a data table with the class temperature.
  2. Identify the mean value and the degree of variation
  1. Why do you think there is so little difference in normal human body temperature while humans vary so much in other traits?

Part 3: What is a Fever- (video)

Have you ever wondered why overheating on a hot day and getting a fever when you're sick feel so different? Both involve an increase in your body's temperature. However, in one case your brain and body do everything they can to cool you off, while in the other they push the temperature inside your body to extreme levels. This video describes these two responses in detail and takes some of the mystery out of fever.

When researcher Matthew Kluger infected a group of desert lizards with bacteria, he found that these cold-blooded creatures sought ways to raise their body temperatures to feverish levels, and that this "fever" seemed to improve their chances of survival. So what is the function of fever in disease, and did fever evolve in part to help organisms survive infection? This drawing illustrates Kluger's lizard study.

  1. What sets body temperature? What can change the set point for body temperature?
  1. How does stress affect body temperature?
  1. What happens when you walk into the freezer aisles of a grocery store or a room that has the air conditioning set very cold? How does your body react and how might this affect your body temperature?
  1. How is fever different from a simple rise in body temperature?
  1. What role might fever play in fighting infection?
  1. Generate list of signs and symptoms when you get a fever. How these symptoms different from how you feel after you've done a little exercise?
  1. Why does the body sweat when a fever breaks?
  1. In what other ways does the body self-regulate?

Part 4: How breathing and heartbeats will change after exercise?

  1. What is homeostasis?
  1. What controls human heart rate? Under what conditions does heart rate change?
  1. How is respiration rate controlled?
  1. Could you hold your breath indefinitely? What would happen?
  1. In what different ways does the body control temperature?
  1. How does the body maintain a steady level of sugar in the bloodstream? What happens if it is unable to regulate blood sugar?
  1. What factors control blood pressure?

Activity:

1.Pair up and check your and partner’s heart rates using a stethoscope or a cardboard roll. Count the beats for 30 seconds and plot the numbers on a graph.

2.Next count the number of breaths you and your partner take in 30 seconds. Record your results and plot on the graph.

3.Jump or run around the room for five minutes. Check your heart rates and respiration directly afterward and then again after a few minutes rest. Record your results and plot on the graph.

Resting / After Exercise / 1 min After Exercise
Heart Rate / Respiration / Heart Rate / Respiration / Heart Rate / Respiration
  1. Is there a difference between at rest and after exercise?
  1. How long did it take you to return to your "at rest" heart rate and breathing?
  1. What other factors did you notice? Were you thirsty or hungry? Can you guess why?

Part 5: Function of sweating and its role in homeostasis and fever.

  1. What happens when you sweat? Why wouldn't you want to exercise outside on a very hot day?
  1. Blow on your forearm. How does your skin feel?
  1. Place a few drops of water on your forearm and rub it just a little bit.
  2. Blow on the wet spot.
  3. Does your skin feel any different than when you blew on it without the water?
  1. How is this helpful to your body when you have a fever?
  1. Make a graphic organizer/flow chart to demonstrate the factors involved with maintaining body temperature.
  1. Identify 2 problems(diseases/illness/disorders) that can occur when the body cannot regulate it properly.

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