Written by Kate Shanelle S. Bayawa

Edited and Reviewed by Reuben J C. Los Baños, Ph.D.

Physiology is the study of how the organs of the body work for it to function and maintain life. It helps you understand how organisms, organs, cells, and biomolecules work together to survive. This includes knowing how the heart, lungs, muscles, and brain do their tasks in your body.

The word “physiology” comes from the Greek words “physis,” meaning “nature” or “origin,” and “logia,” meaning “study of.”

Subdivisions of Physiology:

• Neurophysiology – the study of how the nervous system works.
• Cell Physiology – the study of how cells function together to maintain life.
• Organ physiology – the study of how a specific organ functions. (e.g., heart, kidney, lungs)
• Systemic Physiology – the study of how a specific organ system functions. (e.g., respiratory system, cardiovascular system, digestive system)
• Pathophysiology – the study of how injuries and diseases can cause changes to your body.
• Exercise physiology – study of the way the body responds to physical activities.

You can also apply this in real life:

• Treating Diseases – this will help you understand diseases and give you background on the proper way of treating it.
• First Aid and Response to Emergencies – it will help you know how to perform basic life-saving techniques, especially CPR since it relies on understanding the heart and lungs’ way of circulating oxygen.
• Diet Planning – since it explains how your body works, it will also let you understand how the body absorbs nutrients and this way, you’ll learn proper diet plan.

Is physiology part of biology?

Yes. Physiology focuses on a specific topic, which is learning the body’s function. On the other hand, biology is the study of life in general. Therefore, it is a subfield of biology because it studies the body’s organs’ tasks, whereas biology studies life as a whole.

However, it is not far from biology because it has its similarities. Biology studies all the living organisms while physiology focuses more on how cells, tissues, and organs perform their purpose to sustain life.

What is physiology vs. anatomy?

To simply understand the difference between these two. Physiology answers the question “How does it work?” and Anatomy answers the questions “What is it?” and “Where is it?”

Anatomy is the study of the structure of the body, while physiology studies how the body functions and the way the organs do its work.

For example, when you study the structure of your lungs, it falls under anatomy. However, when you study what the lungs’ responsibility in your body, then it falls under physiology.

Anatomy has its main divisions:

1. Gross (macroscopic) anatomy – study of easily observable structures or structures that can be seen by the naked eye. (e.g., lungs, heart, kidney)

Types of gross anatomy:

• Surface anatomy- study of the external features of the body (e.g., skin, muscles outlines)
• Regional anatomy – study of specific body regions (e.g., head, abdomen, chest)
• Systemic anatomy – study of the body systems (e.g., skeletal, reproductive, muscular)
• Microscopic anatomy – study of body structures that are too small to be seen with the naked eyes (e.g., cells and tissues)

Subdivisions of microscopic anatomy:

• Cytology– the study of cells
• Histology – the study of tissues

Who Discovered Physiology?

The discovery of physiology went through different stages that developed throughout the year. During the ancient beginnings, Egyptians, Greeks, and Indians were the one who dug deeper to know further about the human body.

There were people who had big contribution in discovering physiology, these people were

Hippocrates, Aristotle, and Galen.

• Hippocrates (460 BCE – 375 BCE) – also known as “the father of medicine” emphasized the idea that all diseases have its natural causes.
• Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC) – studied how the living things functions.
• Galen (129 CE – 216 CE) – performed experiments to study how a specific organ work.

Physiology was not discovered by a single individual. It evolved over the centuries by the discovery of different ancient thinkers. They made a significant observation of the different functions of what’s inside your body.

Later, a physician named Jean Fernel first used the word “physiology” which led to the meaning “the study of the way the human body functions.”

Who is the father of physiology?

There is no specific individual who was referred to as “the father of physiology.” However, Claude Bernard is considered to as “the father of the modern physiology” because he had valuable contribution to the field and he introduced homeostasis.

Homeostasis – the body’s ability to maintain stability even though the outside world is continuously changing.

“Homeo” meaning “the same” and “Stasis” meaning “standing still.”

Albrecht von Haller is also considered as “the father of experimental physiology.” He is a Swiss biologist who was born in 1708. He made a contribution by discovering that muscles are “irritable” which means your muscle can move on its own without the need of processing or thinking about it.

He also discovered “sensibility” meaning that your nerves may not be able to move, but it can feel things such as temperature or when something is painful.

Why do we study physiology?

Studying physiology is important for the reason that it is one way of understanding how the body functions.

It will help you gain knowledge of how the inside of our body maintain for us to survive daily. If we don’t study physiology deeply, we cannot become knowledgeable about the way our organs do its task.

Benefits of studying physiology:

1. It helps us learn about how the human body works. It explains the following:
   • In what way does the heart and blood vessels circulate oxygen and nutrients throughout the body.
   • The way the lungs exchange gases between the body.
   • How the kidney filter waste and maintain fluid balance.
   • The way hormones regulate metabolism, growth, and reproduction.
2. It helps us learn about diseases that are broad or hard to understand

For example, in studying pathophysiology, it will allow us to learn why or how injuries and diseases can make changes in your body.

• You will understand why some heart diseases doesn’t only affect the heart but can also weaken the whole body.
• You will learn why high blood sugar is threatening.
• It helps prepare future health workers.
• It plays a crucial role especially to students who will go to med school, it provides deep understanding about the way our body functions.It builds knowledge of what really life is.
• It gives you advance knowledge or background on how to treat diseases.
• It helps you have better understanding of the Human BodyYou will understand how the body works. You will learn how the heart pumps blood.How the kidney filter waste.
• How the brain has controls to every actions.
• It encourages you to have a healthy living.
• It will help you realize how important balance diet and proper diet is.
• You will also learn how smoking, drinking of alcohol, and bad sleeping schedule could affect your health and how it can be sometimes life-threatening.

Why should you take physiology?

Taking this subfield of biology is important if you are planning to be a health worker. It advances your skills and knowledge on how the inside of your body do its task to survive every day.

If your plan is to be a doctor, a nurse, a medical technologist, a physical therapist, and other medical field works, it is important for you to take physiology. Additionally, it plays a significant role as it teaches basic knowledge and you will be able to learn theoretical knowledge.

It gives you background on how to assess, evaluate and track a patient’s health or condition. Studying this increases your awareness, especially in diseases that are common nowadays like diabetes.

Additionally, studying and taking this subject is crucial for you to become a professional and well-aware health worker in the future.

Here are examples of common conditions and explanations on why physiology is crucial in understanding the following conditions:

1. Asthma – It is a condition that affects your respiratory system, specifically your lungs and airways. In this subject, you will learn where oxygen is exchanged properly for carbon dioxide.
2. Heart attack – Since this subject will explain how the heart does its task to pump oxygenated blood; you will gain knowledge on what are its possible signs or signals.
3. Diabetes – This condition is one of the most common or known condition. In this subject, you will learn the role of pancreas in producing insulin normally.

Since this subject will teach you how the body works, it will also guide you on learning proper understanding and knowledge of CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) that will be helpful for emergency situations.

Most importantly, this subject is not just for doctors and future health professionals but also for people in general. This allows you to apply knowledge on what really is going on inside your body.

Taking this subject, isn’t just about memorizing or just knowing the body parts and its function, but it is also about deeply understanding how it really works.

This subject doesn’t only teach us about what’s inside us humans and how our organs work for us to survive daily. This subject applies to all living organisms.

Conclusion

To sum it all up, physiology is one of the subjects that are important to take if you want to be a health worker. It briefly opens you in understanding life itself and the way it works. There are terms that are hard to understand but in studying physiology, it will be easy to understand.

More than just academic knowledge, it also helps us to understand lessons that may apply in real life situations. It encourages you to be aware and informed about your health, understand the signs that our body has been giving us.

In this subject, you will also learn to maintain your health and what to avoid for you to be far from diseases or conditions.

This will also teach you the backgrounds on what’s the right name of a specific diseases to avoid misinformation and it promotes wellness, prevent diseases, and aids in improving quality of our life.

This subject will also open you to the real life, it connects us to the bigger side of science. This subject is not just a subject that will help you in your future career.

This also a subject that will fosters curiosity, improves critical thinking and allow us to have deep understanding on what it is like to be alive. It does not matter if you are a healthcare professional or a student, studying this field will always be crucial. It pushes students to seek for answers in complex terms and understand the deeper reason why some people have that specific disease.

It is also a foundation of all Health Sciences, not just for medicine. This will also benefit nursing, pharmacy, physical therapy and medical technology as it will expose them to a broader knowledge about how everything inside our body works. It helps students acquire advance knowledge for students who will proceed to a medical school in the future.

It will also shape us on how we view health. It teaches and opens about the causes and effects of the diseases or conditions that are mistakenly understood.

Additionally, this subject will also let you recognize signs of diseases that may help you to be aware and get treatment as early as you can to avoid being in a critical condition

Lastly, in this subject, you will not just learn about life or how life works but it will also teach you what to avoid, to improve, protect, maintain what’s inside the body for you to survive. Not just that, it will also open you and give you broader knowledge of all living things and not just about humans. It encourages us to make healthier decisions to avoid life-threatening diseases or conditions.

References

Get A Professor. (2021, September 4). What do you mean by anatomy and physiology?https://getaprofessor.com/2021/09/04/what-do-you-mean-by-anatomy-and-physiology/amp

Cherney, K. (2023, July 27). What is physiology? Everything you need to know. Medical News Today. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/248791

Study.com. (n.d.). Human anatomy & physiology: Definition & relationship. https://study.com/academy/lesson/human-anatomy-physiology-definition-relationship.html

Service, R. F. (2017, April 11). The father of physiology. Science. https://www.science.org/content/article/father-physiology

Gonzaga University. (n.d.). Human Physiology Career Pathways. School of Health Sciences. Retrieved July 20, 2025, from https://www.gonzaga.edu/school-of-health- sciences/departments/human-physiology/human-physiology-career-pathways

American Physiological Society. (n.d.). What Is Physiology? Student Resources. Retrieved July 20, 2025, from https://www.physiology.org/career/teaching-learning-resources/student- resources/what-is-physiology?SSO=Y