Approach to Understanding Human Beings from Physiological Anthropology

Abstract KATSUURA, T. , JIN, X. , LEE, H-J. , LEE, S. and SHIMOMURA, Y. Approach to Understanding Human Beings from Physiological Anthropology Adv. Exerc. Sports Physiol., Vol. 17, No.4 pp. 105-109, 2012. Physiological anthropology is a biological science that studies human beings mainly in terms of physiological functions. As physiological functions cannot be measured from bones and fossils, we study only living human beings. Because of this feature, it may be said that physiological anthropology is the anthropology of humans living in modern civilizations, and that it is closely related to exercise physiology in its methods of studying human physiological functions. There are various levels at which humans can be studied, including the molecular, cellular, organ, individual, population and ecosystem levels. In physiological anthropology, we study human beings mainly at the individual and population levels. The study of physiological anthropology in Japan was begun by focusing on the function of skeletal muscles by means of electromyography. The research topics in this field later expanded into the work capacity of individuals and the environmental adaptability of populations. The keywords established in the research field of physiological anthropology were "environmental adaptability, " "physiological polytypism, " "functional potentiality, " "whole-body coordination" and "technological adaptability. "Various studies related to these keywords have emerged in the field. In this paper, I introduce the concept of physiology anthropology and describe our recent studies on the effects of lighting on physiological functions.