Homeostasis is the state of steady internal, physical, chemical, and social conditions maintained by living systems. It is a process that living things use to actively maintain fairly stable conditions necessary for survival. Homeostasis is an almost exclusively biological term, referring to the concepts described by Bernard and Cannon, concerning the constancy of the internal environment in which the cells of the body live and survive. The term is derived from the Greek words "homoios" and "stasis," meaning "similar" and "standing still," respectively.
Homeostasis is a dynamic process that changes internal conditions to promote survival. It is not constant, and it changes according to the needs of the organism. Homeostasis is maintained by many systems operating together, and it is a central uniting concept of physiology and self-regulation performed to maintain internal stability.
Examples of homeostasis include the control of body temperature in humans, which fluctuates around the value of 37 °C (98.6 °F), but various factors can affect this value, including exposure, hormones, metabolic rate, and disease, leading to excessively high or low temperatures. The body’s temperature regulation is controlled by a region in the brain called the hypothalamus. Another example is the law of supply and demand, whereby the interaction of supply and demand keeps market prices reasonably stable.
In summary, homeostasis is a process that living things use to actively maintain fairly stable conditions necessary for survival. It is a dynamic process that changes internal conditions to promote survival and is maintained by many systems operating together. Examples of homeostasis include the control of body temperature in humans and the law of supply and demand.
