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Body Functions & Life Process

5 Feb

Body Functions & Life Process and all of these processes are interrelated and affect each other.

All living organisms have certain characteristics that distinguish them from non-living forms. The basic processes of life include organization, metabolism, responsiveness, movements, and reproduction. In humans, who represent the most complex form of life, there are additional requirements such as growth, differentiation, respiration, digestion, and excretion. All of these processes are interrelated. No part of the body, from the smallest cell to a complete body system, works in isolation. All function together, in fine-tuned balance, for the well-being of the individual and to maintain life. Health depends on the body’s maintaining or restoring homeostasis, a state of relative constancy, of its internal environment. However, the ten life processes described above are not enough to ensure the survival of the individual. In addition to these processes, life also depends on certain physical factors from the environment. These include water, oxygen, nutrients, heat, energy, and pressure. Disease represents a disruption of the balance in these processes.

U. S. National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute.