Every creature that lives on our planet, even single-celled, has certain needs that it needs to satisfy in order to feel comfortable and live.
The more advanced a creature, the more needs it has.
Human physiological needs are the most important of all, because if they are not satisfied, a person has one hundred percent chance of dying. Even a short-term refusal to satisfy them can lead to serious violations in the work of internal organs.
What it is?
Need - a certain need that needs to be satisfied in order for a person to feel good: he was protected, he realized that he was important for his environment and society as a whole, could function productively, achieve his goals, feel satisfaction, and so on.
Physiological needs, which are also called vital, are a kind of needs that allow a person to support vital activity.
If a person is unable to maintain them at the proper level, the ability to achieve higher goals will be impaired. If they completely cease to satisfy, after some time it will come death (except for the need to satisfy sexual desire).
In Maslow's pyramid of needs, physiological needs are the basis for all the others, constitute a kind of foundation.
What refers to the physiological needs of a person? Examples of vital needs:
- the need to get enough calories to maintain the existence and performance of certain activities of food and liquids;
- need for rest;
- the need to sleep;
- need for breathing;
- the ability to satisfy sexual desire and extend the race.
These needs are considered lower.
Not only humans, but also animals, insects and other creatures need their satisfaction.
A number of the simplest creatures have a shorter list of physiological needs.
Meaning and classification
The modern world is focused on achievements, therefore almost every person realizes that need to be better, stronger, smarter and, of course, get the highest possible salary.
To achieve more, people push the satisfaction of physiological needs into the background.
And sometimes they push aside not only their own, but also the needs of their own children, who are recorded in various circles and sections almost from birth.
As a result, they can just Do not have time to eat and relax. All this leads to the emergence of many somatic and mental diseases.
Food
Food gives a person energy and useful substances, and it can also bring pleasure, peace, satisfaction.
Well-fed person usually more balanced and happythan hungry.
Just being able to eat is not always enough: it is important that the food is sufficiently high in calories and healthy.
If a person is engaged in heavy physical labor or trains a lot, he need to consume more calories than someone who is engaged in mental work and leads a moderately mobile or sedentary lifestyle.
The need can be considered satisfied only if the calories in food are sufficient for a person to cope with the activities and can lead a certain lifestyle.
What happens if the need for food is not met?
The human body is focused on storing: it creates energy reserves in the form of fat deposits and stores nutrients in the organs (for example, fat-soluble vitamins can accumulate in the liver and some other parts of the body.
With prolonged fasting, the body will begin to use the created reserves, and the person will continue to live for some time.
No food healthy person able to live from one to two months, but on condition that he has a water source. Without liquids, he will live no more than three to seven days.
In the process of starvation, the human psyche begins to work with violations: there may be hallucinations, delusions, irritability, aggressiveness. Cognitive processes are disrupted, organs are destroyed. If a child is hungry, its development slows down.
Hidden fasting - type of fasting, in which food is, but it does not contain a sufficient number of nutrients - is widely distributed among people with financial problems.
These people often develop various somatic diseases.
The rate of physiological needs for food and liquids:
- Water - about 1.5-2.5 liters per day (a significant part of the liquid enters the body with food).
- Calories - 2000-3000 and more, depending on gender, weight, occupation and level of physical activity. The rate for each person may vary.
- Protein - 35-87 grams per day.
- Fat - 60-150 grams per day.
- Carbohydrates - 255-585 grams per day.
Rest and sleep
A person who is not able to fully relax and sleep; unable to fully function in society.
During sleep, the brain processes the information obtained during the day, supports immunity (T-lymphocytes are activated during sleep), allows the body to rest properly. Also during sleep, toxic compounds are removed from the brain.
Rest that is not associated with sleep is also important: a person is not able to engage in the same activity without interruptions, so from time to time you need to change activities or do nothing.
What happens if you do not satisfy the need for sleep and rest?
If a person regularly denies himself the need to rest or change his activities for a short time, the likelihood of developing various mental disorders, especially neurosis and depression, will significantly increase. Also, those who deny themselves rest are more difficult to resist stress.
If the person will systematically do not sleep (sleep less than five to six hours a day), his cognitive abilities will deteriorate significantly, the likelihood of various infectious diseases will increase, the risk of developing mental disorders will increase, and emotional instability will arise.
In the long run, a systematic lack of sleep may be one of the reasons occurrence:
- obesity;
- cancer (increases the likelihood of pre-cancerous growths);
- stroke (the risk is four times higher than that of people who sleep enough);
- type 2 diabetes;
- cardiovascular diseases;
- reducing the number of sperm (almost 30%);
- early death.
Therefore, for people who suffer from sleep disorders, it is important not to delay a visit to the doctor.
Prolonged lack of sleep can lead to hallucinations, delusional states.
People who do not sleep for a long time are able to fall asleep for a few seconds — this is called a microsay — and if they drive a vehicle during this period, an accident may occur. However, they themselves do not realize that they have fallen asleep for a short period of time.
The norm of physiological need for sleep: individual. On average, people need to sleep at least 7-9 hours a day.
Air
Do not breathe people basically not capable, and the lack of air that a person can breathe will kill him in a very short time: most people will not live more than five minutes if they are deprived of the opportunity to breathe.
It is also important that the air that a person inhales is free from toxic impurities, because otherwise the risk of multiple somatic diseases, including cancer, increases.
Sex
The need for reproduction and satisfaction of sexual desire. This need It is important to put a little apart: if she is not satisfied with a person, nothing terrible will happen, he will be able to continue his life, except that its quality may decline, especially if he has a strongly pronounced libido.
Some researchers tend to classify this need not as physiological, but as physiological and psychological needs.
And there are reasons for this: in the modern world the need to actively multiply almost disappearedand sex has become primarily a symbol of love, intimacy, bodily pleasure.
A hundred or two hundred years ago, the need to quickly multiply existed, because otherwise, humanity was threatened with gradual extinction due to infectious diseases and other negative factors.
The process of evolution clearly shows that species that are capable of producing many surviving offspring have a high survival rate, therefore sex and the need for reproduction are usually referred to as physiological needs.
What happens if you do not satisfy the need for sex? The man will become unhappy Individuals may be pushed to commit illegal acts.
In some people, the need for sex is significantly reduced, so in principle they practically do not experience sexual desire.
Also exist asexual people: they do not practice sex (either they practice to please a non-asexual partner or to conceive a child, because asexuality does not mean that a person considers himself a childfree), although they can create alliances with other people.
And the question of whether to continue his own race, each person must answer independently.
The difference in the physiological needs of the child and adult
Child needs slightly different from the needs of an adult: children also need quality food, adequate and regular sleep, rest, clean air.
Before adolescence, there is practically no need to realize sexual desire, but children are able to feel certain impulses: masturbation is common in childhood.
They are a variant of the norm (the child studies his body, listens to the sensations), except when the child does this very often and neglects other activities: in this case, he should be shown to a child psychologist.
The rate of physiological food needs for children:
- from one to four years: 3–3.5 g of proteins per kilogram (the child’s weight is multiplied by the indicated number), 3.5–4 g of fat and 10–12 g of carbohydrates.
- from four to seven years: 3-3,5 g of proteins, 3 g of fat, 15-16 g of carbohydrates.
- school age: 2.5-3 g of proteins, 2.5 g of fat, 10-13 g of carbohydrates.
The best and most balanced food for a child up to a year - mother milk.
If there is no opportunity to feed the baby with milk, it is important to find together with the doctor the best feeding option that takes into account the individual needs of the infant.
Sleep rate:
- The first six months of life: 16-20 hours a day.
- From six months to six months: 14-15 hours.
- From year to seven years: 12-14 hours.
- From seven years of age to adulthood: 8-10 hours.
It is also important for the child to have enough opportunities for regular rest.
How not to let them grow into dependence?
There are conditions in which a person experiences excessive desire to satisfy certain needsfor example, sleep a lot, often eat a lot.
In such cases, it is necessary to talk not about addictions: as a rule, such changes signal the existence of certain mental problems or mental health problems with people.
Experts allocate a whole range of mental illnesses somehow related to food. These diseases are called RPP: eating disorders.
These include anorexia, bulimia, compulsive overeating, orthorexia, bigorexia and other diseases. They need to be treated together with a psychotherapist.
RPP is often combined with other mental illnesssuch as depression, neurosis, anxiety disorders, PTSD, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and may occur against their background.
Also, excessive appetite may indicate the presence of hormonal disorders in the body.
Sometimes it occurs while taking certain medications.
If a person feels that his appetite is inadequately grown for no apparent reason and this persists for a long time, it is important for him to go to the hospital.
Excessive need for sleep and rest - a frequent sign of various mental and somatic disorders. For example, people with chronic diseases need rest more than healthy people.
There is a term "hypersomnia". This is a condition in which a person sleeps a lot and feels sleepy outside of sleep.
It is observed and in healthy people (due to stress, after a period of sleep, while taking certain medications). Also, it can be observed in the presence of the following violations:
- head injuries;
- depression;
- uremia;
- apnea.
Excessive need for sex may be a sign of various hormonal disorders, the presence of tumors (benign and malignant), head injuries, complications after neuroinfections, some mental disorders. But it can also be the norm, especially in adolescents.
In order not to become a hostage to your own physiological needs, it is important to listen to yourself and when alarm signals appear. consult a doctorwho specialize in somatics, or to psychotherapists.
Frustration of the physiological needs of the child:
