Functions of Cells in Our Bodies

!±8± Functions of Cells in Our Bodies

Each cell has a natural life cycle whose duration depends on the role it plays. The lifespan of a skin cell is shorter than that of a bone cell. Red blood cells, for example, live for 120 days, while a certain type of nerve cell hangs around for up to 100 years.

At its appointed time, each cell will birth a baby cell that is an exact duplicate of itself. The health of the baby cell depends on the well-being of its parent. A variety of factors can affect cell wellness, which can range from healthy to sick to someplace in between. Cells become ill when they don't get enough oxygen; for example, the person may have anemia, which may be caused by a shortage of red blood cells that transport oxygen around the body; they don't eat enough nutrients; they are exposed to extreme cold or heat; they experience trauma, such as electric shock or radiation treatment, which destroy cells; or they are exposed to toxins.

Once damaged, our cells begin to feel "off," and may malfunction, shrink, wither, and even die before their time. While our cells never stop working, they may slow down because they are out of balance or their organization is threatened. The way our cells feel affects how our body feels. If our cells are not working right or are out of balance, we sense it.

Under normal conditions and when our cells are healthy, if they get injured or out of alignment, they automatically heal or balance themselves. Perfect health is the body's natural condition, the state that it innately strives to achieve. Although we rarely think of the body as wanting to be well, we all have personal experiences that prove it. Who does not have childhood memories of, say, falling off their bicycle and skinning their knee? We bled, the body's way of cleansing the wound, and a loved one wiped it with an antiseptic solution and bandaged it. A few days later when we removed the dressing we discovered that our body had created a scab and new skin.

Our body heals us even if we fall again, scraping off the scab. Even if we pick off that scab intentionally, the skin beneath will keep on healing time and time again. Though the idea of getting cancer scares most people to death, we successfully fight off cancerous cells every day of our life. If ultimately they overrun us, it's only after decades during which our self-healing mechanisms effectively kept them in check. Unless we're ill, all through our life our paper cuts, hangnails, scratches, cold sores, bone breaks, and bruises repair themselves.

But while we know from personal experience that the body has the ability to self-heal, we live in a culture whose indigenous healing arts have been destroyed, that teaches that the body can't be trusted and that it's the doctor or medicine that heals us. It's no wonder we forget! No matter what health care professionals or pharmaceutical companies imply, medicines do not and cannot make us better. Medicine may alleviate symptoms, but it's our body that heals us. The body's repair department is on call 24 hours a day, 365 days yearly. It heals us without our conscious effort or knowledge because being healthy is our nature.

Only some of the functions the nervous system coordinates are activities that our mind has power over. Other activities happen whether we want them to or not.