Dr. Jim Surrell, Journal columnist

The scientific literature regarding human anatomy and biology informs us that there are 11 major organ systems in the human body and nearly 80 individual organs that make up these 11 organ systems.

These organ systems allow our human body to maintain and care for itself each and every day. These 11 major organ systems of our human body are the integumentary system (skin), skeletal, muscular, nervous, endocrine, cardiovascular, lymphatic, respiratory, digestive, urinary, and reproductive systems. Following is a brief review of the functions of our 11 human organ systems.

≤ Integumentary — This system is made up of our skin, hair, and subcutaneous tissue that lies just beneath our skin. The primary function of our integumentary system is to provide our body with a barrier to any invading organisms and any external environmental items that may be harmful to us. This system also is primarily responsible for maintaining our proper body temperature.

≤ Skeletal — Our skeletal system is made up of our bones, cartilage, ligaments, and our bone marrow. This system supports and moves our body, protects our internal organs, provides storage for various essential minerals, and is also responsible for the production of our blood supply.

≤ Muscular — Our muscular system is made up of all our muscles and our tendons that attach our muscles to various body parts, so our muscles can function properly. The primary function of our muscular system is to provide us with the ability to move around (locomotion) and also contributes to the production of necessary heat within our body.

≤ Nervous — Our nervous system is primarily made up of our brain, spinal cord, nerves, eyes, and ears. It is essential to coordinate all the many actions of all our organ systems and allows us to respond to the many sensations we are all exposed to as we live day to day.

≤ Endocrine — The many components of our endocrine system includes our pituitary gland, parathyroid gland, thyroid gland, adrenal gland, thymus gland, pancreas, ovaries in women, and testicles in men. This system regulates many of our body functions through the production and use of various chemicals released into our blood stream called hormones.

≤ Cardiovascular — Of course, this system is made up of our heart, our arteries and veins, and our blood. In addition to transporting oxygen and nutrients to all our body tissues, our cardiovascular system also removes waste products from our body.

≤ Lymphatic — This system is made up of our spleen, lymph nodes, thymus gland, and lymphatic vessels. Its primary function is to return fluid to our blood stream from various body tissues and to defend our body against foreign organisms and infections.

≤ Respiratory — The major components of this system are our lungs and our trachea (wind pipe), along with our nasal and oral cavities to allow us to breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide.

≤ Digestive — Our digestive system has many components, including our salivary glands, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, colon and rectum, liver, and pancreas. The function of this very important system is to process the food and drink we consume, so we can absorb nutrition into our body to maintain our health and to also eliminate waste.

≤ Urinary — Our urinary tract system is made up of our two kidneys, our two ureters to take urine down to the bladder where it is stored until we urinate out of our bladder through our urethra. The function of this system is to eliminate waste and toxins from our bloodstream, and it also helps to regulate the pH (acid level) in our bloodstream and the volume of blood in our body as well.

≤ Reproductive — Of course, this system allow us to reproduce and have children. The female ovaries produces eggs and the male testicles produce sperm to allow conception of a fetus to grow in the mother’s uterus until the time of delivery of the newborn baby.

So, there you have it. Our human body has 11 organ systems and nearly 80 organs that allow us to function properly each and every day. What a marvelous creation and we all need to remember to make good healthy choices to take care of these amazing organ systems in our body.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Dr. Jim Surrell is the author of “The ABC’s For Success In All We Do” and the “SOS (Stop Only Sugar) Diet” books. Requests for health topics for this column are encouraged. Contact Dr. Surrell by email at sosdietdoc@gmail.com.