Basic Life Processes (Nursing)

00:01 So all living things have certain characteristics that distinguish them from nonliving things.

00:06 So we just got done discussing all of the different organ systems but now let's discuss what those organ systems actually do in order for us to be alive.

00:18 So there are six basic life processes that must occur in all living things.

00:23 The first of these six is going to be metabolism.

00:27 In order to live, we must be able to metabolize.

00:32 Now, a lot of times when people think of metabolism, they actually think of how well they're able to burn calories but metabolism is not just about breaking down calories, it's also about building up certain types of nutrients in the body as well.

00:50 So metabolism can be divided into both catabolism which is breaking things down and anabolism which is building things up.

01:00 The second base life process that's very important for all living things is to be able to respond to their environment.

01:08 We will later talk about homeostasis and homeostasis involve the body having very strict parameters in which they must stay in and the body must be able to respond to the environment in order to stay in those parameters.

01:27 A third basic life process is going to be movement.

01:31 Now, movement includes the ability for the organism to move, the ability of organs to move, the movement of nutrients throughout the body, as well as the ability to move to environments that are more conducive to sustaining life.

01:50 The fourth process is growth.

01:53 Growth is very important for all living things to be able to do and is directly correlated or involves the use of metabolism as well.

02:03 The fifth life process that's very important is differentiation.

02:08 When you first start out as a zygote, you are one cell.

02:13 That cell is going to divide over and over and over again.

02:18 And so in order for us to become a human, in order for us to have different types of tissues and different types of cells in different types of organs, we need to be able to differentiate those cells into different types of functions.

02:35 The reason why when a person commits a crime, you can get DNA from a piece of hair or saliva or any other thing that comes from their body, is because every single cell in the body has the exact same DNA.

02:53 So then what allows them to perform different functions? Differentiation. The sixth process is reproduction.

03:01 As I discussed, when we discussed the reproductive system, reproduction is absolutely positively necessary for the continuation of the species.

03:13 Without this process, none of the other ones even matter.