Physiology

What is physiology?

The study of physiology is, in a sense, the study of life. It asks questions about the internal workings of organisms and how they interact with the world around them.

Physiology tests how organs and systems within the body work, how they communicate, and how they combine their efforts to make conditions favorable for survival.

Human physiology, specifically, is often separated into subcategories; these topics cover a vast amount of information.

Researchers in the field can focus on anything from microscopic organelles in cell physiology up to more wide-ranging topics, such as ecophysiology, which looks at whole organisms and how they adapt to environments.

The most relevant arm of physiological research to Medical News Today is applied human physiology; this field investigates biological systems at the level of the cell, organ, system, anatomy, organism, and everywhere in between.