17th January 2022

Thermoregulation
Core Body Temperature:
● Regardless of your surroundings, your body temperature has to stay at 37°C
● Why?
○ This is the optimum temperature for the enzymes in your body
● Your skin temperature and the temperature in extremities, such as fingers or ears, can vary
greatly without harming you, but the temperature deep inside your body must be stable. This
is your core body temperature
Internal Control:
● There are various ways that you can influence your body temperature externally. For
example, you can:
○ Put on or take off clothing
○ Open or close windows
○ Turn on or off central heating/air conditioning etc
○ Seek shade
● However, your internal control is more important
● Your thermoregulatory centre in the hypothalamus detects the temperature of blood flowing
through your brain
● Receptors on the skin send extra information
● This allows the brain to coordinate a response