Alright, let’s talk about something that might make a few of us a little uncomfortable: How does the urinary system work?
My hope is, with this series, to teach general knowledge on health in how the body works. With any luck, you’ll walk away from these articles having learned more about yourself and having gained a spark of curiosity to look further into each topic.
With that said: please enjoy this article:
An Introduction To Our Topic On The Urinary System
The urinary system (or renal system) is the system in charge of removing waste and excess fluids from our bodies.
Without the urinary system, our bodies would only survive for a few days – it is a vital thing we need to keep functioning normally.
The parts of the body associated with this system are as follows:
- Kidneys
- Ureters
- Bladder
- Urethra
The Urinary System In Order
The kidneys are located in the back of the abdomen, one on each side of the spine.
They’re bean-shaped organs about the size of a fist. Each kidney contains millions of tiny filtering units called nephrons. Blood is filtered through the nephrons, and the waste products and excess fluids are removed. What’s left over is then altogether reabsorbed by the body.
The waste products and excess fluids are collected in the renal pelvis, which looks like some sort of funnel-shaped structure, that connects the kidneys to the ureters.
The ureters are narrow tubes that carry urine from the kidneys to the bladder.
The bladder is a muscular sac that stores urine until it is excreted from the body.
The urethra is a narrow tube that carries urine from the bladder to the outside of the body.
How The Renal System Coincides With The Rest Of The Body
The urinary system is kind of like the water boy on every sports team.
Its role is to maintain the balance of fluids and electrolytes in the body.
If you don’t know what electrolytes are, they’re minerals in the body that are essential for many functions, including muscle and nerve function. The kidneys regulate the balance of electrolytes in the body by filtering them from the blood and excreting them in the urine.
Another cool thing that the urinary system does is it helps to regulate our blood pressure. The kidneys produce a hormone called renin that helps regulate blood pressure by constricting or dilating blood vessels.
Mostly it’s the kidneys that do all the cool stuff in this system. For example, they produce a hormone called erythropoietin that stimulates the production of red blood cells in the bone marrow.
Kidneys are really cool and make this system into something quite special.
What Could Go Wrong?
Disorders of the urinary system can range from minor infections to life-threatening conditions such as kidney failure.
Some things also common are things like:
- Urinary tract infections
- Kidney stones
- Bladder cancer
These are pretty serious things to have, so if you’re looking for treatment, don’t look further than your local hospital; go see them immediately.