The Body Live
Animated charts to see what happens inside the body: hormones, blood sugar, sleep, bones and fats, over minutes, hours or years. Each page shows its level of evidence and its sources.
Fasting
The pancreas live Sugar, insulin, glucagon and reserves, animated, with meal, juice and exercise buttons.
Fasting by topic Fuel, hormones, immunity, bile and refeeding, with the level of evidence.
The 0 to 72 h timeline The main phases of fasting, hour by hour.
An ordinary day
A 24 hour day Cortisol on waking, melatonin in the evening, growth hormone at night, body temperature.
A night of sleep The 90 minute cycles and the hormones at work while we sleep.
A meal, hour by hour Sugar, insulin, hunger and fullness over 5 hours: a sugary meal or a high protein one.
A cup of coffee Caffeine from morning to evening, and how much is left at bedtime.
Alcohol and the night Three drinks in the evening: alcohol in the blood, then a night cut in two.
The route of fats Butter, olive oil, omega 3 or MCT: the lymph route or the portal vein shortcut, animated.
Exercise and stress
A workout Adrenaline, cortisol and lactate during exercise, then 48 hours of recovery.
Acute stress A 15 minute oral exam: adrenaline within seconds, cortisol within twenty minutes.
Gelatin and tendons 10 g of gelatin with vitamin C, isometric exercise one hour later, then months of rebuilding.
Reps in strength training Heavy or light load: what the muscle gains, what happens in the fibers, and whether to train to failure.
The adrenal glands Cortisol, aldosterone, adrenaline: the gland in cross section, and its responses to stress, waking, standing up or a salty meal.
The vagus nerve Slow breathing, cold water on the face: the heart's brake and the pulse beat by beat, animated.
Breath holding Oxygen, CO2, lungs squeezed at 40 m and samba on the way up: static and depth breath holding, animated.
Lymph in motion Valves, muscles and breathing: why moving pushes lymph forward.
Sex hormones
The menstrual cycle FSH, LH, estradiol and progesterone over 28 days, and what the body goes through.
Pregnancy hCG, progesterone, estrogens and prolactin, week by week.
Menopause FSH rising, estradiol falling, over about ten years.
Ejaculation The hormones of arousal and of the hour that follows.
Testosterone Over the day, and from birth to age 80.
The brain
Bones, kidneys and sun
Vitamin D and sun City, month, time of day and skin type: the sun making vitamin D in the skin, animated.
Bones through life Bone dug out then filled in, and bone mass from age 5 to 90, in women and in men.
Kidney stones What you drink, the crystals that grow, and the stone moving down the ureter depending on its size.