Overview
The human body is an amazing thing. It allows us to run, jump, play, cry, talk, write, think, and so much more. Although humans are always evolving, and our bodies change during our lifetimes, understanding the basics of human anatomy is important for everyone. Knowing foundational information about your own body can help you stay healthy and understand why your body is doing what it is!
Skeletal System
Your skeleton is crucial. It helps hold the body up, helps you walk, and protects your organs. You’ve seen skeletons at Halloween, and most science classrooms have model skeletons. But what is your skeletal system? This system is made of bones. Those bones require blood and nourishment just like the rest of your body! Bones are covered with periosteum, a membrane that helps deliver nourishment and keep your bones healthy.
Resource for Kids:
- Kids Health: Your bones
Resource for Adults:
- National Cancer Institute: Introduction to the skeletal system
Muscular System
Muscles are important, but your body has many more muscles than you can see at the gym. Your muscular system allows you to move, helps keep your body upright, produces heat that keeps your body temperature regulated, and can protect your bones and organs. Muscles help you move by contracting, and it is important to make sure that your muscles can contract well. This means cardio as well as strength training/ Don’t forget that your heart is a muscle too!
Resource for Kids:
- cK-12: The muscular system
Resource for Adults:
- American Physiology Society: What is the muscular system?
Cardiovascular System
Your heart is also part of your cardiovascular system. This system, which delivers blood to the organs, tissues, and cells of your body, is comprised of your heart, arteries, and veins, as well as smaller branches called capillaries and arterioles. Arteries carry blood that is rich in oxygen away from your heart, and veins carry oxygen-poor blood back to your heart. This system is crucial for delivering oxygen to your organs, bones, and skin; while your heart pumping makes the body function.
Resource for Kids:
- PBS Tennessee: The circulatory system
Resources for Adults:
- Texas Heart Institute: Heart information center
- US National Library of Medicine: How does the blood circulatory system work?
Digestive System
Without our digestive system, we would not be able eat, we wouldn’t nourish our bodies, and we definitely wouldn’t get nutrients from our food! The digestive system is made up of your gastrointestinal tract, which is basically a tract that runs from your mouth through your body, passing through your esophagus, stomach, intestines, liver, pancreas, and gallbladder. One crucial part of your digestive system are the bacteria which help you digest food. The digestive system is very complex. It can be impacted by, and depends on, your circulatory, cardiovascular, muscular, and respiratory systems, as well as on hormones and bacteria.
Resource for Kids:
- Learn NC: The digestive system
Resources for Adults:
- National Geographic: Digestive system
- Mayo Clinic: See how your digestive system works
Endocrine System
The endocrine system is complex but is also crucial to a healthy body. The endocrine system regulates energy and growth as well as how you respond to stress and injury. It plays a huge role in reproduction. This system is made up of glands and organs that regulate and produce hormones and chemicals your body needs such as insulin, testosterone, and estrogen. Your endocrine system also helps regulate your metabolism and can impact how much energy you have.
Resource for Kids:
- Teach Engineering: Endocrine excitement!
Resources for Adults:
- Hormone Health Network: The endocrine system
- The United States Environmental Protection Agency: What is the endocrine system?
- Washington University in St. Louis: Endocrine system
Nervous System
The nervous system is responsible for carrying messages from your brain and spinal cord to the rest of your body. Without this system, not only would you not be able to talk or think, but you also couldn’t move. Your brain and spinal cord wouldn’t be able to tell your muscles how to move or breathe since your nervous system regulates breathing. Your brain and spinal cord are connected to nerves that run throughout your body and tell your body what it is supposed to do.
Resource for Kids:
- National Science Teachers Association: Nervous system guide
Resource for Adults:
- News Medical: What is the nervous system?
Respiratory System
The respiratory system is made up of your lungs, airways, and blood vessels, as well as the various muscles that enable you to breathe. This system provides oxygen to your body, something that is essential, and it also makes it possible for you to breathe and eat through your mouth! Your lungs are protected by your skeletal and muscular systems, and the system is also dependent on your nervous system.
Resource for Kids:
- E-learning for Kids: Respiratory system
Resource for Adults:
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute: The respiratory system
Immune/Lymphatic Systems
The immune system and lymphatic system, systems that work together throughout the body to help regulate your body’s response to germs, bacteria, and illness as well as infection, are harder to identify on an anatomy chart, but they are still important. New research is also being done that suggests that the brain is connected even more intricately to the immune system and lymphatic system than previously thought, making this system fascinating for scientists. Lymphatic systems remove waste from the body and brain, but these functions are still being studied.
Resource for Kids:
- Arizona State University: Viral attack
Resources for Adults:
- NPR: Brain’s link to immune system might help explain Alzheimer’s
- Lymphatic Education & Research Network: FAQs about the lymphatic system
Urinary System
Your urinary system is crucial for removing waste products, like those left behind by food or drink, for your body. It is made up of the kidneys, bladder, and urethra, and is essential for keeping your body healthy. Without properly functioning kidneys, for example, you will get sick, possibly get infections, and overwhelm your immune system. Your kidneys also help regulate your blood pressure.
Resource for Kids:
- Life Science Teaching Resource Community: Renal system
Resources for Adults:
- Urology Care Foundation: How does the urinary system work?
- University of Rochester Medical Center: Anatomy and function of the urinary system
Reproductive System
The reproductive system is important even for those of us not planning on having children. Your reproductive system impacts the hormones your body produces as well as the overall health of your organs.
Resource for Kids:
- Girls Health: How the female reproductive system works
Resource for Adults:
- Cleveland Clinic: Female and male reproductive systems
Integumentary System
This system is comprised of your skin, sweat and oil glands, hair, and nails. These organs are there for protection and sensory perception as well as to keep your muscles, organs, and skeleton covered! This system also helps your body regulate temperature, provides vitamin D synthesis, and detects pain. It’s also the largest organ system.
Resource for Kids:
Resource for Adults:
- Harvard University: Integumentary system handout
