Your kidneys continually work around the clock and perform many important tasks that allow you to stay healthy. They filterwaste from your blood, remove excess fluid from your body, regulate sodium and potassium levels, regulate fluid levels in your body, control blood pressure, help bones grow and produce red blood cells (RBCs). Although these functions are very important, many people with kidney diseases do not know that they have them until they already have significant damage.

Have you ever received a blood test result and thought that you have no idea what that means? You are not alone; many people regard a blood test as something their doctor just does, and seldom do they appreciate the wealth of information contained in a single blood sample. In fact, a single blood test can give you an amazing amount of data about your overall health, help you identify diseases before they present themselves, and help prevent life-threatening medical problems.

There is a daily cycle of changes within the body, which is responsible for the regulation of sleeping, waking up, hormonal secretion, activity of organs and systems, etc. This process is known as the circadian rhythm. It depends greatly on external conditions, especially on light and darkness. Knowing how these factors affect a person’s internal clock will be helpful for understanding some aspects of health and sleep.

Insulin resistance has an impact on the body’s ability to process glucose. Insulin resistance develops when cells within muscle, fat and the liver do not respond appropriately to insulin, a hormone that allows glucose to enter the cells to be used as energy. Consequently, the body compensates for the reduction in sensitivity to glucose by producing more insulin. This increase in the amount of insulin produced can eventually disrupt the body’s normal metabolic balance.

Human functioning comprises many intricate systems. For example, the nervous system has numerous types of signaling systems providing communication between the brain and the body. Neurotransmitters are part of this complex signaling system and function as chemical messengers that facilitate the transfer of information from one neuron to another by way of chemical transmission, or via Synaptic Transmission. The right combination of neurotransmitters is necessary for all fluids, cells and organs in the human body to work together and achieve balance (homeostasis).

Metabolic syndrome refers to a combination of various medical conditions which increase one’s risk of developing cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and other long-term medical conditions. Rather than being one single condition, a metabolic abnormality is actually a collection of metabolic changes in the body which take place at the same time. Learning about the biology behind metabolic syndrome will help us learn how these metabolic conditions are related to our lifestyle, hormone activity and the functioning processes within our bodies and can affect overall health.