Nervous System
About the Nervous System
The nervous system is made up of all the nerve cells in your body. It is through the nervous system that we communicate with the outside world and, at the same time, many mechanisms inside our body are controlled. The nervous system takes in information through our senses, processes the information and triggers reactions, such as making your muscles move or causing you to feel pain. For example, if you touch a hot plate, you reflexively pull back your hand and your nerves simultaneously send pain signals to your brain. Metabolic processes are also controlled by the nervous system.
There are many billions of nerve cells , also called neurons, in the nervous system. The brain alone has about 100 billion neurons in it. Each neuron has a cell body and various extensions. The shorter extensions (called dendrites ) act like antennae: they receive signals from, for example, other neurons and pass them on to the cell body. The signals are then passed on via a long extension (the axon ), which can be up to a meter long...
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Terms to know
- The part of the nervous system that controls muscles of internal organs (such as the heart) and glands. One part of the autonomic nervous system helps the body rest, relax, and digest food and another part helps a person fight or take flight in an emergency.
- The part of the central nervous system that is contained within the skull (cranium).
- Central Nervous System
- The brain and spinal cord. Also called CNS.
- Cranial nerves are nerves emerging directly from the brain, in contrast to spinal nerves (which emerge from various segments of the spinal cord). Cranial nerves exchange information between the brain and parts of the body, primarily to and from regions of the head and neck.
- Enteric Nervous system
- A mesh-like system
neurons that governs the function of the gastrointestinal system. - A bundle of fibers that receives and sends messages between the body and the brain. The messages are sent by chemical and electrical changes in the cells that make up the nerves.
- A type of cell that receives and sends messages from the body to the brain and back to the body. The messages are sent by a weak electrical current. Also called nerve cell.
- The part of the nervous system that slows the heart, dilates blood vessels, decreases pupil size, increases digestive juices, and relaxes muscles in the gastrointestinal tract.
- The nervous system outside of the brain and spinal cord.
- The part of the peripheral nervous system that transmits signals from central nervous system to skeletal muscles, and from external stimuli thereby mediating sight, hearing and touch.
- A column of nerve tissue that runs from the base of the skull down the back. It is surrounded by three protective membranes, and is enclosed within the vertebrae (back bones). The spinal cord and the brain make up the central nervous system, and spinal cord nerves carry most messages between the brain and the rest of the body.
- A spinal nerve carries signals between the spinal cord and the body. There are 31 pairs of spinal nerves, one on each side of the vertebral column.
- The part of the nervous system that increases heart rate, blood pressure, breathing rate, and pupil size. It also causes blood vessels to narrow and decreases digestive juices.
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