how our brains know to use our organs to keep us alive.

Question

Like, how do they know they need lungs for oxygen? How do they know to send waste to our kidneys? How do they know to always keep the heart beating?

In: Biology

Answer 1

You know how we’re taught that we have 5 senses? That’s wrong and wrong by a lot. We have possibly 20ish senses. Many of them are how the brain “knows” what to do.

For instance, you have a sense which, well, senses CO2 levels in the blood (you don’t have a sense for oxygen). When this sense picks up that the CO2 level in your blood is too high different parts of the brain are activated which tell the involuntary muscles in you respiratory system to increase which purges the blood of the excess CO2.