The Basics of the Nervous System
What it does, how it works, and how it applies to life + 💾 [Downloadable asset]
This isn’t going to be a boring biology class.
Knowing what the nervous system is, and what is does, is extremely applicable to real life. Here are some of its responsibilities:
All cognitive functions
The fight or flight response
All motor (bodily) movements
Below are fundamentals what will serve you well in life, explained, with real-world application.
⚡️ What are Neurons?
A type of cell that carries electrical messages around the body.
You have billions of neurons, which link up in neural networks, to form nerves.
These electrical messages jump from neuron to neuron, and is the main way information is carried around the body. They:
Carry information (sight, smell, taste, touch etc) to the brain
Make up the brain itself, which interprets this information
Sends the signal back out to muscles, glands, and organs to carry out the correct response
Working example:
→ You smell freshly baked bread
→ This information is carried to the brain through neurons/nerves
→ The brain interprets this smell as bread
→ The brain sends the signal out to salivary glands that food is nearby, and the intention for you to seek that food out
👤 The Nervous System
The system of nerves (made up of neurons), that extend throughout the body, and allows us to do basically everything.
The Nervous system has 9 major divisions (see graphic👇).
Here they are summarised with examples…
🔴 The Central Nervous System
Comprised of the brain and spinal cord.
🧠 The brain
Receives messages from the rest of the body, interprets them, and then responds with the appropriate actions.
Examples include: interpreting smell, feeling pain then moving your body away, response to an emotional event.
There are many components of the brain, but the main parts of the cortex (the thinking brain) are:
The Frontal lobe
Complex thought and decision making
The Parietal lobe
Sensory input (touch) and directional awareness
The temporal lobes
Hearing and language formation
The occipital lobe
Visual processing
🍡 The spine
Connects the brain to periphery nervous system (rest of the body).
It can also carry out basic interpretation itself. Like if you burnt your hand, the neurons would carry this to spine (which would normally relay to the brain), but because its such a basic fix – the spine tells the hand to move away.
🔵 The Periphery Nervous System
Senses and relays information from the environment to the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) – and carries out appropriate action.
There are 2 divisions:
1) The somatic nervous system
Carries out conscious processes
Muscle movements
Conscious breaths etc
2) The autonomic nervous system
Carries out unconscious processes
Involuntary muscle movements (spasms, moving hands away from heat etc)
Unconscious breathing
All unconscious bodily functions (heart rate, digestion, homeostasis etc)
This system has 2 further very important systems:
The sympathetic nervous system
Prepares the body for fight or flight
Kicks into action when a threat is perceived:
Raises available energy levels by raising blood sugar
Shuts down unessential (rest and recovery) functions like digestion and muscle repair
Redirects this energy to working muscles for fighting or running
The parasympathetic nervous system
Prepares the body for rest and recovery
Kicks in when the coast is clear:
Lowers blood glucose levels to prevent spiking
Puts energy into rest, and recovery functions
Releases melatonin (allows us to sleep)
These systems work in competition with each other.
You want both working at equilibrium.
If the sympathetic nervous system is active for too long, we call this long-term stress. You will put on weight, muscles will atrophy (waste), and because creative thinking isn’t essential for survival, you will enter a very tunnelled state of consciousness.
A little bit of stress is what you want.
This is known as positive stress.
Like when you train your muscles in the gym, the extra load works to re-build stronger, and keep the whole skeleton healthy.
📝 Final Thoughts & Summary
The nervous system is the main way messages are transferred around the body (the other way is by hormones)
Neurons are the living cells that carry these messages as electrical impulses
Neurons join together to create nerves
The central nervous system (CNS) is made of the brain and spinal cord
The brain receives, interprets, and sends out responses
The spine relays information to the brain from the body (and carries out simple interpretations)
The periphery nervous system (PNS) is made up of all the nerves in the body apart from the brain and spinal cord
Senses the world, relays this information to the brain, and carries this interpretation on how to react back to the muscles or glands
Made up of 2 divisions
The somatic nervous system
Conscious actions (picking something up and conscious breathing etc)
The autonomic nervous system
Unconscious actions (a lot of things, like breathing, heart rate, digestion etc)
Has 2 further divisions that work to make up the fight or flight response, and our recovery system
The sympathetic nervous system
Kicks in when risk is perceived
Prepares the body for fight or flight (stimulations muscles, and inhibits energy to recovery processes like digestion and lateral thinking
The parasympathetic system
Kicks in when no threats are in sight
Allows the body to rest and recover (Puts energy into digestion, muscle repairs, and melatonin for sleep etc)
Both these system work in conjunction
You need equilibrium to achieve a healthy level of stress to keep the body conditioned to life
Thanks for reading.
Let me know your thoughts.
If you found this valuable, think of a friend that would benefit from it. If you are that friend, we’d love to have you join this mailing group.
Thank you! Wonderful & concise information.😊 Are we machines?😁