Last week, I reviewed the first textbook I bought to help me understand physiology and fitness better: Exercise Physiology. This week I’m going to review one that I ordered much later, when I was much more well-versed in how the body actually works.
In Human Physiology (affiliate links: US
I think they are up to a twelfth edition now, but you get the idea
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What’s it cover?
Human Physiology is a much more complete book than Exercise Physiology and covers the whole range of human physiological processes.
I am not going to get into too much detail about it below (primarily because my two research reviews this week have been absolutely gargantuan and I just don’t have time to do another big post) but hopefully this list of the main chapters will give you an idea of what you can find:
- Framework for human physiology – introduction to cellular biology, tissues, organs and homeostasis
- Chemical composition of the body – atoms, molecules, ions, radicals, solutions, organic molecules (carbohydrates, lipids, proteins and nucleic acids)
- Cell structure – cell compartments and organelles
- Protein activity and cellular metabolism – protein binding sites, enzymes and chemical energy, metabolic pathways, carbohydrate, fat and protein metabolism
- Genetic information and protein synthesis – genetic code, protein synthesis, protein degradation, replication of genetic information, cancer and genetic engineering
- Movement of molecules across cell membranes – diffusion, mediated transport systems, osmosis, endocytosis and exocytosis, and epithelial transport
- Homeostatic mechanisms and cellular communication
- Neural control mechanisms – neural tissue, membrane potentials, synapses, structure of the nervous system
- Sensory systems - general and specific systems
- Hormonal control systems – hormones, hormone transport in the blood, hormone metabolism and excretion, control systems involving the hypothalamus and pituitary and endocrine disorders
- Muscle - skeletal muscle and smooth muscle
- Body movement – motor control heirarchy, motor neurons and brain motor centres
- Consciousness and behaviour – states of conscious, conscious experiences, motivation and emotion, altered states, learning and memory, and language
- Circulation – blood, the cardiovascular system, the heart, the vascular system, arterial pressure, cardiovascular patterns in health and disease and the prevention of blood loss
- Respiration – the repiratory system, ventilation, gas exhange, oxygen transport, and carbon dioxide transport
- The kidneys and water and inorganic ion regulation – renal physiology, sodium and potassium regulation, calcium regulation, hydrogen-ion regulation, diuretics and kidney disease
- Digestion – the gastrointestinal tract, gastrointestinal processes and pathophysiology of the gastrointestinal wall
- Regulation of organic metabolism – control of carbohydrate, fat and protein metabolism, regulation of body energy stores and regulation of body temperature
- Reproduction – you can work this out for yourself!
- Defence mechanisms – immunology, specific immune defences, infection, and factors that alter the body’s resistance to infection
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Why bother getting this book?
If you already have something like Exercise Physiology and you are wondering whether this sort of additional detail is worth considering, let me point out a few areas where I have found this book invaluable:
To understand the basis upon which much of the modern advances in biological science are built, it is useful to read through the section on genetics and genetic engineering. Of course, you may consider, like Seth Roberts, that such advances are heading in the wrong direction, as the environment is much more significant. But at least you will have understood the principles.
To understand how stress actually works and how the body responds to it on an acute and on a chronic basis, the chapter explaining the hormone control systems that involve the hypothalamus and pituitary is invaluable.
Appreciating the role of the mind in relation to the body and, in particular, the effect of motivation and emotion on ability and performance is key to coaching athletes and personal training. The chapter on consciousness and behaviour provides the background to these ideas.
If you want to understand the background to why there is an old and tired argument that still pops up occasionally about whether excess protein consumption is bad for the kidneys, the chapter on renal function will be of great help.
If you want to understand the science behind the effects of wheat on the gut wall, as described in The Paleo Solution, by Robb Wolf, then it is handy to have the chapter on digestion open at your side. Less involved textbooks tend to treat digestion as something magical that just happens on its own.
There is nothing more frustrating for athletes and lifters than getting sick and stress is a key factor in regulating our immune system. To understand much of the literature on stress and the immune system, it is helpful to have a basic grounding in immunology and the last chapter provides this.
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Wrapping up
I really like this book and I dip into it regularly. I can’t wait to find some free time (hopefully coming up later this year!) to sit down and read some big chunks of it all the way through.
I love making connections between diverse sections of physiology (like between hormone changes following resistance exercise and hormone changes in obesity) and I wouldn’t be able to do that if I didn’t have a text like this to hand.
