Nervous

System

What is the Nervous System?

-Nervous System receives information about what is going on inside of your body. Then it processes the information and forms a response to it. -Neuron is a type of cell -Neurons carry messages, or impulses, from one part of your body to another. -Synapse is the junction where one neuron sends impulses to another neuron or another type of cell.

Types of Neurons
-Sensory neurons - lnformation about your external and internal environment is gathered by sensory neurons through your sense organs or other parts of your body. -Interneurons - Located only in the brain and spinal cord, interneurons pass impulses from one neuron to another. -Motor Neurous - Motor neurons send nerve impulses to muscles and glands.

Central Nervous System

-The nervous system consists of two major divisions-the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system. -The central nervous system is the control center of body. It includes the brain and spinal cord.

- The brain is a moist, spongy organ that weighs about 3 pounds.

-The 3 major regions of the brain are cerebrum, the cerebellum, and the brain stem.

The Spinal Cord

The spinal cord is a thick column of nerve tissue that links the brain to most of the nerves in the peripheral nervous system.

Nerve impulses travel from the brain, through the spinal cord, and then out to the rest of the body via spinal nerves In the opposite direction, impulses travel from parts of your body via spinal nerves to the spinal cord, and then to the brain.

Spinal are part of the peripheral nervous system.

Reflexes

Reflex action is automatic reaction towards stimuli. Reflex actions allow you to react quickly in potentially harmful situations.

For example, when we accidentally touch the hot iron, we pull our hand automatically. This reaction does not involve the brain.

Peripheral Nervous System

The peripheral nervous system includes the network of nerves that links the rest of your body to your brain and spinal cord. A nerve is a bundle or bundles of axons packaged with connective tissue. The peripheral information to the central nervous system .

Then carries responses from the central nervous system to the rest of the body. Based on these two functions, the peripheral nervous system is divided into a sensory division and a motor division.

Sensory Division

Some nerves in the sensory division carry information about your outside environment from your ears, eyes, and other sense organ. Other sensory nerves carry information about internal body conditions such as blood pressure and heart rate.

Motor division

The nerves of the motor division are divided into two groups based on the functions they control.

Somatic Nervous Motor nerves in the somatic nervous system carry signals that control voluntary actions such as chewing food or putting on a sock.

Autonomic Nervous system Motor nerves in the autonomic nervous system regulate actions that happen automatically. These actions include such things as your breathing rate and digestion.

Keeping Healthy

The most important step you can take to care for your nervous system is to protect it from injury. Avoiding head injuries - A severe bump to the head can cause brain tissue to hit the skull. This bruise like injury to the brain is known as a concussion.

Certain diseases or drugs that damage or kill nerve cells can also lead to impaired brain function. A severe brain injury from trauma, disease, or drugs could possibly result in a coma. Which is a prolonged period of deep unconsciousness.

Avoiding spinal cord injuries Spinal cord injuries can result in paralysis, or the loss of the ability to move and feel some part of the body. Paralysis is to the legs or to the arms and legs occurs when some nerves are so damaged that they can no longer signal the muscles they control.

Living with Epilepsy

Under certain conditions, a persons brain may experience sudden, uncontrolled nerve impulses. This flood of brain activity can be lead to a seizure.

Anyone can experience a seizure vary widely in type and intensity, but include facial twitching, loss of awareness, and muscle spasms.

Objectives

Explain the functions of the nervous system and the role of neurons. Describe the roles of the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system. Identify the most important thing you can do to keep your nervous system healthy.

Quiz

What function does the nervous system perform? What is the spinal cord? What are the 3 types of neurons are found in your nervous system?