Making the link
Whilst the systems of the human body individually work to serve a purpose, whether it is to help us move or to help us eat, they also interconnect and work together. The muscular system works with the skeletal system to help our body move. Muscles are attached to bones with tendons and work in their antagonistic pairs to move. More specifically if we analyse the human arm, the humerus is connected with both the bicep and tricep, depending on the movement of the arm one of the muscles (bicep or tricep) will be an extensor and the other will be a flexor. This means that one muscles will extend (get longer) and the other contract (get shorter) to move the lower arm upwards or downwards. Simple exercise like wrist flexes, crunches, squats and calf raises use antagonistic pairs and would not be possible without the cohesion between the muscular and skeletal system. Another vital collaboration of body systems is that of the circulatory and respiratory. Red blood cells contain haemoglobin which is the pigment making them red and rich in iron which attracts oxygen to the cells. On the ends of each bronchiole are microscopic alveoli in the lungs. The alveoli are covered in capillaries both being one cell thick so that gas exchange is made possible. Gas exchange involves the deposit of carbon dioxide and waste from deoxygenated blood cells into the alveoli to be removed by the body. Oxygen is brought into the alveoli via inhalation and is absorbed into the bloodstream oxygenating the red blood cells and in turn supplying our body with blood. Both red blood cells and alveoli have a round shape with an increased surface area to provide the body with more effective gas exchange. Without the respiratory system our body would be starved of the oxygen it needs and without the circulatory system our bodily organs and muscles would be provided with zero nutrients to survive.