Credit: iStock/courtneyk Like many dads, I love a little reading time with my 3-year-old before bed. Because of my work, my son and I talk about “heart beeps,” as he calls them. One night, he asked if I wanted to hear his heart beep. I said yes and laid my head on his chest. Doing … Continue reading How a Swallow Slows the Heart
Organ crosstalk
Interoception: The Body’s Hidden Sixth Sense
Credit: iStock/magicmine Our bodies are constantly sensing what is happening inside us, even when we are not aware of it. This internal awareness is known as interoception. Similar to homeostasis, the term interoception describes something we experience every day—the process through which the body monitors its internal environment and sends signals to the brain to … Continue reading Interoception: The Body’s Hidden Sixth Sense
Not Just a Pump: How Your Heart Talks to the Rest of Your Body
Credit: iStock/pepifoto When we learn about the heart in school, it’s usually described as a pump: strong, steady and rhythmic. That’s true. But what fascinates me most, as a physiologist, is that the heart is also a communicator, constantly exchanging messages with your brain, kidneys, muscles and blood vessels to keep your body balanced, safe … Continue reading Not Just a Pump: How Your Heart Talks to the Rest of Your Body
Gone Fishing for Signals in the Gut-brain Connection
Credit: iStock Zebrafish is a small tropical freshwater fish, named for their zebra-like stripes. Though tiny, this little fish plays a big role in biomedical research. It might surprise you that humans share about 70% of their genes with zebrafish. This makes the fish a powerful model for studying health and disease. Meet the zebrafish … Continue reading Gone Fishing for Signals in the Gut-brain Connection
Listening to Your Heart AND Your Head: Is There a Connection between Heart Health and Alzheimer’s Disease?
Credit: iStock The adage “should you listen to your heart or to your head?” describes making decisions based on emotions (heart) versus logic (head). While the saying signifies two different sides to a decision-making process, the link between the heart and head may be more connected than you think when it comes to disease. Heart … Continue reading Listening to Your Heart AND Your Head: Is There a Connection between Heart Health and Alzheimer’s Disease?
How the Kidneys and Lungs Help Each Other Restore Your Body’s Balance
Credit: iStock Many organs talk to each other to perform specific roles to achieve a balance called homeostasis, which is crucial for survival. Acid-base homeostasis is a type of homeostasis that’s important for proper functioning of many biological processes. Sometimes when organs aren’t working the way they should, they can interrupt normal acid-base homeostasis. But … Continue reading How the Kidneys and Lungs Help Each Other Restore Your Body’s Balance
Brain-Lung Crosstalk: How the Brain and Lungs Communicate with Each Other
Credit: iStock As the body’s “command center,” the brain’s job is to communicate with other organs to make sure all our body systems are in proper working order. But you may not know that people who have brain injuries are also more likely to develop respiratory disorders. This is due to the brain-lung axis—how the … Continue reading Brain-Lung Crosstalk: How the Brain and Lungs Communicate with Each Other
Understanding Why Exercise Is Medicine
Credit: iStock Around the year 600 B.C., a physician from India by the name of Sushruta stressed the importance of physical activity on one’s health. Fast forward 2,600 years: Scientists have learned that lifelong exercise can make your body feel as much as 30 years younger. But even so, there’s a growing trend of our … Continue reading Understanding Why Exercise Is Medicine