The Nervous System - A Quick Guide
G’day all,
Over the next weeks at Science Saturday we are going to start looking at the nervous system and the brain.
Over the last few weeks we have spoken about how meditation and exercise affect our brains and nervous system but we haven’t really look at them in any detail.
These next articles will look at neuroanatomy (the part of the nervous system) in greater detail while still keeping it practical and, hopefully, useful.
We have looked at the nervous system before but here is a refresher.
What is the nervous system?
The nervous system is like the computer network of our body.
Photo by cosmin4000/iStock / Getty Images
It is made up of over 100 billion...yes BILLION nerve cells that send and receive signals throughout the body.[i]
We have the central nervous system (CNS) which is essentially your brain and spinal cord and the peripheral nervous system (PNS) that connects your brain and spinal cord to the rest of the body.[ii]
The PNS made up of two systems.
There are the nerves that controls we have control over. Like moving our heads, arms legs etc. This system is called the voluntary (somatic) nervous system.[iii]
The second type is the involuntary (vegetative or automatic/autonomous) nervous system (ANS). As you can imagine, this system is responsive for the things that we can’t control. There are things you can’t control, you ask?! These are the things that tend to keep us alive but we fortunately do not have to control. Like the beating of our heart, the digestion of food etc.[iv]
Photo by Nerthuz/iStock / Getty Images
The ANS is also made up our accelerator (sympathetic nervous system) and brake (parasympathetic nervous system) which about earlier. The accelerator was originally responsible for reacting to threats such as lions. These threats were often temporary and the reaction to fight or flight was only needed for short amounts of time. However, the nervous system treats today’s modern threats of stress the same way leaving us with our accelerator left jammed on. This can cause many health issues such as sleep problems, memory issues, anxiety and depression. Exercise, yoga and meditation have all been found to reduce stress by releasing the accelerator and applying the brakes. [v][vi]
Photo by NicoElNino/iStock / Getty Images
Next week we will start to look in more depth and the different parts of the brain.
[i] https://www.healthline.com/health/fun-facts-about-the-nervous-system#1
[ii] Kalat, J. W. (2015). Biological psychology. Nelson Education.
[iii] https://www.healthline.com/health/fun-facts-about-the-nervous-system#1
[iv] https://www.healthline.com/health/fun-facts-about-the-nervous-system#1
[v] Ross, A., & Thomas, S. (2010). The health benefits of yoga and exercise: a review of comparison studies. The journal of alternative and complementary medicine, 16(1), 3-12.
[vi] Hackney, A. C. (2006). Stress and the neuroendocrine system: the role of exercise as a stressor and modifier of stress. Expert review of endocrinology & metabolism, 1(6), 783-792.