Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsDefinitionMaintaining HomeostasisTypesImpactHomeostasis and Mental Health

Table of ContentsView All

View All

Table of Contents

Definition

Maintaining Homeostasis

Types

Impact

Homeostasis and Mental Health

Close

What Is Homeostasis?

Homeostasis refers to an organism’s ability to regulate various physiological processes to keep internal states steady and balanced. These processes take place mostly without our conscious awareness.

How Is Homeostasis Maintained?

Your body has set points for a variety of states—including temperature, weight, sleep, thirst, and hunger. When the level is off (in either direction, too much or too little), homeostasis will work to correct it. For example, to regulate temperature, you will sweat when you get too hot or shiver when you get too cold.

Another way to think of it is like the thermostat in your house. Once set at a certain point, it works to keep the internal state at that level. When the temperature drops in your house, your furnace will turn on and warm things up to the preset temperature.

In the same way, if something is out of balance in your body, a physiological reaction will kick in until the set point is once again reached. Here’s how the primary components of homeostasis work:

A negative feedback loop will work to decrease the effect of the stimulus, whereas a positive feedback loop will increase it. In homeostasis, negative feedback loops are most common, as the body is typically attempting to decrease the effect of the stimulus to get the body back to equilibrium.

How Addiction Affects Homeostasis

Types of Homeostatic Regulation

There are three main types of homeostatic regulation that happen in the body. Though their names might be unfamiliar, you probably experience them every day.

Thermoregulation

When you think about homeostasis, temperature might come to mind first. It is one of the most important and obvious homeostatic systems. Regulating body temperature is called thermoregulation.

All organisms, from large mammals to tiny bacteria, must maintain an ideal temperature in order to survive. Some factors that influence this ability to maintain a stable body temperature include how these systems are regulated as well as the overall size of the organism.

The colloquial terms “warm-blooded” and “cold-blooded” do not actually mean that these organisms have different blood temperatures. These terms simply refer tohowthese creatures maintain their internal body temperatures.

Overview of the Autonomic Nervous System

Osmoregulation

Osmoregulation strives to maintain the right amount of water and electrolytes inside and outside cells in the body.The balance of salt and water across membranes plays an important role, as in osmosis, which explains the name “osmoregulation.” In this process, the kidneys are responsible for getting rid of any excess fluid, waste, or electrolytes. Osmoregulation also affects blood pressure.

Chemical Regulation

Your body regulates other chemical mechanisms as well to keep systems in balance. These use hormones as chemical signals—for example, in the case of blood sugar levels. In this situation, the pancreas would release either insulin, when blood sugar levels are high, or glucagon, when blood sugars are low, to maintain homeostasis.

The Nervous and Endocrine Systems and What They Do

Impact of Homeostasis

Homeostasis involves both physiological and behavioral responses. In terms of behavior, you might seek out warm clothes or a patch of sunlight if you start to feel chilly. You might also curl your body inward and keep your arms tucked in close to your body to keep in the heat.

As endotherms, people also have a number of internal systems that help regulate body temperature. When your body temperature dips below normal, a number of physiological reactions respond to help restore balance. Blood vessels in the body’s extremities constrict in order to prevent heat loss. Shivering also helps the body produce more heat.

The body also responds when temperatures go above normal. Have you ever noticed how your skin becomes flushed when you are very warm? This is your body trying to restore temperature balance. When you are too warm, your blood vessels dilate in order to give off more body heat. Perspiration is another common way to reduce body heat, which is why you often end up flushed and sweaty on a very hot day.

Like the body, the mind seeks its own type of homeostasis and attempts to compensate when out of balance. For example, one prominent theory of humanmotivation, known asdrive-reduction theory, suggests that homeostatic imbalances create needs. These needs, in turn, motivate behavior in an attempt to restore homeostasis.

6 SourcesVerywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Davies KJ.Adaptive homeostasis.Mol Aspects Med.2016;49:1-7. doi:10.1016/j.mam.2016.04.007APA Dictionary of Psychology.Osmoregulation.Samuel SA, Francis AO, Anthony OO.Role of the kidneys in the regulation of intra- and extra-renal blood pressure.Ann Clin Hypertens. 2018;2:048-058. doi:10.29328/journal.ach.1001011Röder PV, Wu B, Liu Y, Han W.Pancreatic regulation of glucose homeostasis.Exp Mol Med. 2016;48(3):e219. doi:10.1038/emm.2016.6Tansey EA, Johnson CD.Recent advances in thermoregulation.Advances in Physiology Education. 2015;39(3):139-148. doi:10.1152/advan.00126.2014Deckers L.Motivation: Biological, Psychological, and Environmental. Taylor & Francis; 2018.Additional ReadingMolnar C, Gair J.Homeostasis and osmoregulation. In:Concepts of Biology - 1st Canadian Edition. BCcampus; 2015.

6 Sources

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Davies KJ.Adaptive homeostasis.Mol Aspects Med.2016;49:1-7. doi:10.1016/j.mam.2016.04.007APA Dictionary of Psychology.Osmoregulation.Samuel SA, Francis AO, Anthony OO.Role of the kidneys in the regulation of intra- and extra-renal blood pressure.Ann Clin Hypertens. 2018;2:048-058. doi:10.29328/journal.ach.1001011Röder PV, Wu B, Liu Y, Han W.Pancreatic regulation of glucose homeostasis.Exp Mol Med. 2016;48(3):e219. doi:10.1038/emm.2016.6Tansey EA, Johnson CD.Recent advances in thermoregulation.Advances in Physiology Education. 2015;39(3):139-148. doi:10.1152/advan.00126.2014Deckers L.Motivation: Biological, Psychological, and Environmental. Taylor & Francis; 2018.Additional ReadingMolnar C, Gair J.Homeostasis and osmoregulation. In:Concepts of Biology - 1st Canadian Edition. BCcampus; 2015.

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Davies KJ.Adaptive homeostasis.Mol Aspects Med.2016;49:1-7. doi:10.1016/j.mam.2016.04.007APA Dictionary of Psychology.Osmoregulation.Samuel SA, Francis AO, Anthony OO.Role of the kidneys in the regulation of intra- and extra-renal blood pressure.Ann Clin Hypertens. 2018;2:048-058. doi:10.29328/journal.ach.1001011Röder PV, Wu B, Liu Y, Han W.Pancreatic regulation of glucose homeostasis.Exp Mol Med. 2016;48(3):e219. doi:10.1038/emm.2016.6Tansey EA, Johnson CD.Recent advances in thermoregulation.Advances in Physiology Education. 2015;39(3):139-148. doi:10.1152/advan.00126.2014Deckers L.Motivation: Biological, Psychological, and Environmental. Taylor & Francis; 2018.

Davies KJ.Adaptive homeostasis.Mol Aspects Med.2016;49:1-7. doi:10.1016/j.mam.2016.04.007

APA Dictionary of Psychology.Osmoregulation.

Samuel SA, Francis AO, Anthony OO.Role of the kidneys in the regulation of intra- and extra-renal blood pressure.Ann Clin Hypertens. 2018;2:048-058. doi:10.29328/journal.ach.1001011

Röder PV, Wu B, Liu Y, Han W.Pancreatic regulation of glucose homeostasis.Exp Mol Med. 2016;48(3):e219. doi:10.1038/emm.2016.6

Tansey EA, Johnson CD.Recent advances in thermoregulation.Advances in Physiology Education. 2015;39(3):139-148. doi:10.1152/advan.00126.2014

Deckers L.Motivation: Biological, Psychological, and Environmental. Taylor & Francis; 2018.

Molnar C, Gair J.Homeostasis and osmoregulation. In:Concepts of Biology - 1st Canadian Edition. BCcampus; 2015.

Meet Our Review Board

Share Feedback

Was this page helpful?Thanks for your feedback!What is your feedback?HelpfulReport an ErrorOtherSubmit

Was this page helpful?

Thanks for your feedback!

What is your feedback?HelpfulReport an ErrorOtherSubmit

What is your feedback?