What's Inside Our Bones?

Your bones are one of the most important organs in your body. Without them, you would have no figure and you would not have the ability to perform any activity. Your bones play a very important role also in protecting and positioning your bodily organs like the heart and lungs. Without bones, these organs would be very vulnerable to many risks.

It may sound strange but bones are very much alive and that means that they are continuously growing and changing from time to time as the body changes too. That might be hard to imagine since they are thick and hard and you would not see it grow since what we can see is our muscles. Have you ever asked yourself why bones are hard and can support your whole body? Bones are hard and strong because they are made up of special components.

A bone is made up of bone cells specifically called osteocytes. It is made up of almost 50% calcium phosphate, mainly the source of bone's thickness and endurance. Their main function is to take the proper nutrients for the bone and also give out waste materials in it. Bones, just like other organs in the body needs repair from time to time in order to maintain its hardness and strength.

The outermost surface of a bone is called the periosteum. It is also the layer where the nerves and blood vessels are found in which the bone receives the nourishment it needs. The layer next to the periosteum is called the compact bone. This layer is very unique because it is smoother compared to the outermost layer of the bone. This very hard layer is also the one you see every time you would look into skeleton at museums or laboratories. Inside the compact bones is the cancellous bone. It is a layer of the bone that contains more layers in it. Compared to compact bone, the cancellous bone is a bit softer. However, they remain strong just like the compact bone. According to studies, they can be compared to sponge when it comes to appearance. The innermost layer of the bone is consists of the bone marrow. The bone marrow is soft and it looks like a thick gel and so it is protected by the cancellous bone. The yellow bone marrow contains fats which are released when needed by the body. The red bone marrow, on the other hand, makes great amounts of red and white blood cells important to distribute oxygen all throughout the body.