The Biology of Balance

Our body is somewhat like a spinning wheel. No matter the assault from outside forces, it has the resilience and also the innate ability to return to its upright position, naturally.

- Rajgopal Nidamboor

A person in good health and optimal well-being is apparently in a state of homeostasis — in other words, a harmonious state. It also mirrors our ability to maintain reasonably constant metabolic activity, notwithstanding zillions of incessant goings-on within the body. Such functions are, of course, part of the normal physiological process — internal or external — during which the body responds to changes suitably.

In simple terms, homeostasis denotes an unchanging condition. However, in reality, it connotes a dynamic, ever changing state within the perimeter of ‘tapered’ limits. Whenever such a ‘fine’ balance is in jeopardy, or misplaced, in the wake of illness, or disease, there is peril waiting to happen — to destabilise the well-being of the individual.

CHEMICAL POWERHOUSE

When we have our breakfast, before we rush to office, the whole process brings about certain internal changes. The first thing you know is there is enough ‘ammo’ in your tummy, and you have to do something about it. The next thing you know, or have heard someone tell you, is the food is being broken down into simple chemicals your body can use. The protein in your breakfast, to cull one example, is digested into amino acids, or chemical building blocks. These are, thereafter, used by the cells in the body to produce their own specific proteins.

What does this signify, or connote? That our body functions with a sense of regularity, or dynamic balance. In other words, it relates to the functional realm of our being, our physiology, or self-regulatory mechanisms, or feedback chains, or systems, that ‘fuel’ basic adjustments in our functional sphere. For example, when the carbon dioxide content of our blood begins to ascend, we breathe-in air more deeply. Likewise, when we drink far too much coffee, or tea, we pass more urine.