Homeostasis

Homeostasis is the physiological maintenance of internal variables — temperature, pH, blood glucose, neural excitability, immune tone — within viable ranges despite external perturbation. The endocannabinoid system is frequently described as a homeostatic regulator, damping excessive neuronal activity, modulating immune responses toward resolution, and balancing energy intake against expenditure. Di Marzo's often-quoted summary — that the ECS helps organisms "relax, eat, sleep, forget, and protect" (Di Marzo, 1998; Di Marzo, 2018, Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 17:623) — captures this buffering role. The on-demand, short-range, retrograde nature of endocannabinoid signaling suits homeostatic control, which generally requires local, rapid, self-limiting adjustment rather than sustained broadcast signaling. → See also: Endocannabinoid system, Retrograde signaling, Tonic signaling.