We eat every day, but how often do we stop to think about how that process happens? The answers lie in your digestive system! Your digestive system works with many parts to break down what you eat. Through the digestive process, your body absorbs needed nutrients from your food and gets rid of excess waste and any indigestible parts of whatever you have eaten.  To gain a bigger picture of how it all works, it might help to follow your food! 

Macronutrients are what we call the chemical compounds that make up the foods we eat. You’ve probably heard of them before - the major macronutrients are carbohydrates ( “carbs”), proteins, and fats. Along with micronutrients (minerals and vitamins) and water, macronutrients provide the energy we need to live and grow.

Welcome back, Adventurers! Are you ready to digestsome knowledge? The digestive system is responsible for powering your daily activities. It does this by absorbing nutrients from your food and removing waste through excretion. The digestive system is a BIG deal - literally! If you laid an adult’s small intestine out in a straight line, it would measure around 20 feet in length.

Bladders function by storing urine until it’s time to go. You know when you need to go because of your nervous system. When the bladder is full, nerve endings in the bladder wall are triggered. These nerve endings send your brain a message that it is time for you to pee.

Hey there, Adventurers! Urine store for some interesting Qs & As today. Although pee might be the butt end (ha) of some pretty funny jokes, peeing is a normal and necessary function of all of our bodies. Knowing how peeing (or urinating) works is an important part of understanding your body! Some Know Yourself-ers like you sent in some great questions that you might have asked yourself before. Remember, if you have questions of your own, send them over to me at the link below or on social media!

Your kidneys are best known for their filtering responsibilities, but one of the functions that gets less attention is the production of hormones that keep the body running correctly. While filtering keeps the body in balance by removing waste and keeping salt levels balanced, hormones from the kidney keep things balanced by helping control our blood itself.

The renal system is made up of the kidneys, the ureters, the bladder, and the urethra. The kidneys work alongside the circulatory system to clean and filter your blood for waste and excess water. The extra fluids and waste products then travel through your ureters, bladder, and urethra and are released as urine. 

Everyone knows about the Five Senses - sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell - but not everyone knows about a special ‘sixth sense’ that helps us experience the world. Proprioception is an internal sense that helps our brain learn where our body is and how we move. Proprioceptive nerve endings in our body provide us with information on where our hands, arms and legs are in space without having to look for them! If you close your eyes and raise your arm over your head, your brain knows your arm is over your head, without having to look in a mirror.

Children may know blood as the substance that comes from a scraped knee or bloody nose, but they may not know what it does. The purpose of the circulatory system may be less obvious than the skeleton or the senses, but it's certainly no less important! Understanding how the system moves blood and lymph throughout the body not only helps us to appreciate this important system, but also take care of it, helping us live longer and happier lives. 

Expand your knowledge on the circulatory system with this bone-us content! Engage in fun activities while learning the in's and out's of your skeletal system!

Hey, Adventurers! Dr. Bonyfide here, back to answer a few of your questions about the skeletal system. Keep them coming - remember to submit  your children's questions here or on social media!