Why do you think it is important to have a basic understanding of chemistry in your study of Anatomy and Physiology and in turn, your study of Exercise Science?

Anatomy and physiology deal with structures within the human body on all scales, from tissue level to the cellular level. These disciplines also investigate how structure informs function, for example, by seeing the glenohumeral joint and determining all the functions it has based on the available attachment points for muscles and tendons. It is also important to beyond the cellular level to the atomic level because in the organization of living things, from atoms to whole organisms, every level below determines the functions of the level above. With an understanding of chemistry, one can appreciate the rate of reaction of certain chemical reactions in the body like ADP to ATP and relate that to the functional capacity of a muscle in a certain situation. Basic knowledge of chemistry is required to ask an important question in anatomy and physiology like what factors cause a biologically relevant chemical reaction to speed up or slow down, or why certain chemicals cannot enter cells and why that is important in the function of neurons or how the energy to do things, stored in chemical bonds is released and used. On that note, understanding the chemistry of reactions in the body, at a basic level will help in studying the enzymes and cells that make tissue systems work.