Question: What happens when homeostasis of temperature regulation fails in the body?

Ryan Ellison answered on 6 Feb 2026:

Homeostasis is really important because of the chemical reactions needed for you to survive, such as breaking down food to release energy. These chemical reactions require special proteins called enzymes, which act as catalysts to allow chemical reactions to happen in your body much faster than they would normally happen. These enzymes are very sensitive and work best at specific temperatures. The enzymes in your body work best at around 37 degrees celsius.

If your body gets too cold, then you go into what’s called “hypothermia”. This means the temperature in your body gets too cold for the required chemical reactions to occur, and your body starts to shut down. If you get too hot, you go into “hypothermia”, and the increased temperature causes chemical reactions to happen too quickly, releasing more energy and making you even hotter. At these high temperatures, all of the proteins required in your body start to break down and stop working.