Skin Receptors

Body Receptors  Sensory Receptors- nerves and cells that are in your eyes and ears.  External Receptors – outside the body, pain, heat, pressure, light, chemicals.  Internal Receptors – blood pressure, balance, energy use, heart beat

Skin Communication to Brain  Your body has about 20 different types of nerve endings that all send messages to your brain.  The 4 most common are heat, cold, pain, and pressure/touch receptors.  Pain is important for your safety  Some parts of our body have more nerve endings than others

Skin Receptors  Tongue, sensitive to pain but not to hot and cold, that is how you burn your mouth so easily.  Fingertips are also very sensitive, some people use their fingers to read.  There are about 100 touch receptors in each fingertip.  The least sensitive part of your body is the middle of you back.  The most sensitive part are your hands, lips, face, neck, tongue, fingertips and feet

Pressure  Mechanoreceptors –sense physical touch and pressure, also respond to motion, stretch, and sound.

Pain  Pain Receptors- respond to pain and light touch, these are negative receptors if you feel the pain you remove the stimuli. They can be dulled with pain medication like Asprin and ibuprofen

Hot and Cold  Thermoreceptors – hot and cold temperature, body temperature

Chemical Receptors  Chemoreceptors – taste, smell

Magnetic Receptors  Electromagnetic receptors – light, electricity, magnets, radiation  Platypus – can sense the electric fields of the prey in the muscles of their bills  Migratory patterns of whales.

Shivering  It is your body’s way of trying to get warmer.  Rattlesnakes are use their skin to feel the body heat of other animals