Question

How does the brain maintain homeostasis?

Answer 1

Human brain is a soft, slightly flattened and whitish, large sized structure. It is present inside the cranial cavity of the cranium of the skull. It controls the functions of our body organs and also provides the qualities of mind i.e. learning, reasoning and memory.

Complete answer:
Brain is the central information processing organ of the body and acts as a system. It is formed of three parts- forebrain, midbrain and hindbrain.
-Forebrain forms the greater part of the brain and it contains three regions- olfactory lobes, cerebral hemispheres of cerebrum and diencephalon.
-Mid brain is significantly small and consists of two heavy fibre tracts called crura cerebri.
-The hindbrain is formed of cerebellum, pons Varolii and medulla oblongata.

All the parts of our body interact among themselves to contribute to the homeostasis of each other and of the entire organism. So no system of the body works in isolation. The nervous system helps in controlling and regulating the other parts of the body for maintaining homeostasis. Any deviation from the homeostasis acts as a stimulus to a receptor and it sends a nerve impulse to the regulating centre in the brain. The brain then directs an effector to act accordingly and give an adaptive response to the stimuli. The adaptive response helps in bringing back the state of normalcy in the body. The main portion of the brain which is concerned with maintaining homeostasis is hypothalamus. Hypothalamus influences the functions of medulla oblongata and also controls the actions of autonomic nervous system and the pituitary gland.

Note: Homeostasis which is stability or balance in the body of an organism is important because it helps to maintain a constant internal environment required for the proper functioning of all the physiological processes. Brain helps in maintaining homeostasis through a series of functions.