Is it healthy to be chaotic?
The concept of Chaos has proven to be one of the greatest scientific advances that have led to radical philosophical implications. It deals with dynamic systems whose determining factors are completely unknown to us. Sometimes it seems that these dynamic systems exhibit a stochastic behavior while others portray simpler or better known behaviors where determinism is obvious. When the physician faces chaotic, dynamic systems, he or she wonders if it is healthy for these biologic systems to be chaotic. When analyzing the variation in brain and heart rates mathematically, the conclusion is that these rates are chaotic, complicated and unpredictable. Because each organ regulates its own performance, the mathematical variations seem to be the result of the organ's determinism rather than fluctuation. This healthy variability is neither a random nor an uncontrolled fluctuation. It is a certain, well-harmonized chaos, that 'provides the body with the flexibility to respond to different stimuli'.
Otero-Siliceo
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Instituto Nacional de Neurología y Neurocirugía, Mexico City, Mexico. nicasioa@yahoo.com
Arriada-Mendicoa
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D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D017711:Nonlinear Dynamics