An Imperfectly Perfect System

A conundrum

It’s a conundrum science have long since figured out, to some extent. How does our body work? How do we sleep, wake, breathe, sneeze, defaecate and urinate on demand?
The creationists will tell you it’s God. Personally, I will agree with them because they are just some things beyond human understanding. But as a physiologist and a creationist, I know they are many instances where science and creation agree. Take Physiology as an example.

Physiology is the study of the normal function of the human body. At the cellular, tissue, organ and system level, Physiology attempts to identify how the sum of these parts ensure the body works as it should. It is the foundation of medicine. How do you understand the abnormal when you have no idea what the normal actually is?

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Human Physiology is the science of the functioning of human organs and the cells that compose them. Human Physiology studies the mechanical, physical and biochemical functions that determine the health of an individual. While anatomy studies form, Physiology is the study of function.

Source

It is this study of function over form that makes Physiology central to human biology and medicine. The tenets upon which the medical knowledge is based, homeostasis, rose from the dust that is Physiology.

Like tiny blocks assembled over time to create a big structure, the study of Physiology begins at the microscopic level before enlarging to encompass the organs and systems that make our body work.

Yet, as central as the study of Physiology is, like a student who needs help untangling the complexities of a subject, Physiology cannot stand alone.

It needs the help of biochemistry to understand how biochemical reactions that occur in the cells at the molecular level affect the internal body environment. It cannot do without Anatomy to appreciate how morphology or form affects body function, neither can it do without Physics to understand the electrical activity that occurs in many cells.

Body physiology is also affected by the stability of the internal environment. It is not that different from Ecology which is the study of the relationship between man and the environment in which he dwells. How? Just as we are affected when the weather is too cold or too hot, body physiology is also affected when the internal environment changes.

Internal environment

The internal environment comprises the cells, tissues, organs, and system. The human body is built in such a way that every cell-tissue-organ-system is intricately linked. A change in one affects the other, creating an overall imbalance in a perfect system. In the process of homeostasis, the body physiology tries to erase this imperfection and restore the systems to their perfect level.

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Homeostasis

Physiology cannot be studied without homeostasis being mentioned. Homeostasis is the maintenance of a constant internal environment. How does this relate to physiology? The constant internal environment is the study of function that is physiology. We can say homeostasis is the way the body systems try to ensure normal physiology is maintained.
At its core, the body always fights to ensure homeostasis is maintained. We feel ill or unwell when the perfection that is homeostasis becomes imperfect and the body's physiology is unable to adjust sufficiently to restore it to perfection.

History

The study of physiology dates back as far as ancient classical Greece. Hippocrates developed his physiology idea around a theory of humours. According to his theory, the human body comprises four main elements- Earth, Water, Air, and Fire. (Sounds like some fantasy novel doesn’t it?)
Each of these elements is in turn represented by a humor, black bile, phlegm, blood and yellow bile respectively. Aristotle went on to discover a relationship between form (Anatomy) and function (Physiology).

Hippocrates believed our emotions were somehow tied to the four humoural representatives- black bile, phlegm, blood and yellow bile. So, depending on how we feel at a certain time, we could be struck down by a disease tied to black bile, phlegm, blood and yellow bile. (I shudder to think how life would be like if this were true.)

Galen disagreed. He posited that humoural imbalances originates in specific organs and modified Hippocrates emotional angle. He added that our temperament affected disease processes. Sanguine- blood, Phlegmatic- Phlegm, yellow bile- choleric and black bile- melancholy. (I personally don’t think there is much difference between their two theories, minus the specific organ angle.)

He also believed the body comprised three related organs, the brain and nerves(for thought), the heart (for life), and the liver and veins(for nutrition).

It was John Fernel nearly 1400 years later who introduced us officially to physiology. As the field developed, many preconceived notions were gradually peeled away. Claude Bernard often referred to as the father of modern physiology coined the term ‘milieu interieur’ to champion the existence of an internal environment which could affect human physiology. Later, the development of the cell theory by Matthias Schleiden and Theodor Schwann shed more light on the previously obscure subject.

It took Walter Cannon in 1929 to give a more detailed explanation.

“The maintenance of steady states in the body and the physiological processes through which they are regulated.”

(Brown Theodore and Elizabeth, 2002, p.92)

In conclusion, Physiology is simply the body’s ability to regulate its own internal environment.
The maintenance of this ‘perfect’ state (a constant internal environment) is central to our well being. A deviation from this perfection is referred to as pathophysiology. (Imperfection)

References
Brown Theodore M.; Fee Elizabeth (October 2002). "Walter Bradford Cannon: Pioneer Physiologist of Human Emotions". American Journal of Public Health. 92 (10): 1594–1595.
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/physiology
Wikipedia