Respuesta :
Thermostat
Explanation:
- The body tightly regulates the body temperature through a process called thermoregulation, in which the body can maintain its temperature within certain boundaries, even when the surrounding temperature is very different
- The core temperature of the body remains steady at around 36.5–37.5 °C (or 97.7–99.5 °F)
- The hypothalamus in the brain is the master switch that works as a thermostat to regulate the body’s core temperature
- The nervous system constantly relays information about the body's temperature to the thermostat, which in turn activates different physical responses designed to cool or warm the body, depending on the circumstances
- Responses may include: decreasing or increasing the flow of blood from the body's core, where it is warmed, to the surface, where it is cooled; slowing down or speeding up the rate at which the body turns food into energy (metabolic rate); inducing shivering, which generates heat through muscle contraction; and inducing sweating, which cools the body through evaporation
- A fever occurs when the thermostat resets at a higher temperature, primarily in response to an infection
- To reach the higher temperature, the body moves blood to the warmer interior, increases the metabolic rate, and induces shivering
- The chills that often accompany a fever are caused by the movement of blood to the body's core, leaving the surface and extremities cold; Once the higher temperature is achieved, the shivering and chills stop