Thermoregulation

• Which word refers to the control of our internal body temperature?


  Thermoregulation 
• The human body has to be kept around which temperature? 

  37°C
• What type of feedback is involved in thermoregulation?

  Negative feedback
• Why do we have to maintain our body temperature at 37°C?

  It's the optimum temperature for enzymes to function
• Where in the body is the thermoregulatory centre located

  Brain
• What is the role of receptors in the body? 

  To detect changes in conditions 
• Temperature receptors are found throughout the body. 

  Where are the two main places they're found?

  Blood vessels

  Skin
• Which of the methods below serve to warm the body up?

  Contract erector muscles and raise body hairs

  Shivering

  Constrict blood vessels near the skin
• Is information about skin temperature sent to the brain by the nervous system, or endocrine system?

  Nervous
• Explain how shivering warms the body.

  Shivering involves muscles contracting and relaxing automatically. This requires a lot of energy from respiration, which in the process releases a lot of heat energy as waste. 
• To minimise heat loss we contract erector muscles in the skin, which raises our hairs. This traps a layer of insulating air and so means that less heat energy is lost.
• Which of the methods below help cool us down?

  Relax erector muscles and lower body hairs

  Dilate blood vessels near the skin

  Sweating
• What is vasodilation?

  Blood vessels near the skin become wider, increasing the flow of blood in the skin capillaries
• How does sweat keep us cool?

  As sweat evaporates it removes heat energy from the skin