Brain and nervous system (for teenagers) (2023)

what does the brain do

The brain controls what you think and feel, how you learn and remember, and how you move and speak. But it also controls things you are less aware of - like your heartbeat and how your food is digested.

Think of the brain as a central computer that controls all bodily functions. The rest of the nervous system is like a network that carries messages from the brain to different parts of the body. He does this throughRückenmark, which runs from the brain to the back. It contains filamentous nerves that branch out to all organs and parts of the body.

When a message arrives at the brain from any part of the body, the brain tells the body how to respond. For example, when you touch a hot stove, nerves in your skin send a pain message to your brain. The brain then sends a message back, telling the muscles in your hand to retract. Luckily, that neurological relay race happens in the blink of an eye.

What parts does the nervous system consist of?

The nervous system consists of the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system:

• Brain and spinal cord are thecentral nervesystem.
• The nerves that run throughout the body make up theperipheral nervous system.

The human brain is incredibly compact, weighing only 3 pounds. However, it has many folds and grooves. These provide the extra surface area needed to store the body's vital information.

The spinal cord is a long bundle of nerve tissue, about 18 inches long and 1/2 inch thick. It extends from the lower part of the brain to the spine. Along the way, nerves branch out throughout the body.

The brain and spinal cord are protected by bones: the brain by the bones of the skull, and the spinal cord by a series of ring-shaped bones called vertebrae. Both are cushioned by layers of membranes called meninges and a special fluid called cerebrospinal fluid. This fluid helps protect nerve tissue, keep it healthy, and remove waste.

What are the parts of the brain?

The brain has three main sections: the forebrain, the midbrain, and the hindbrain.

the forebrain

The forebrain is the largest and most complex part of the brain. It's made up of the cerebrum—the area with all the folds and grooves that usually show up on brain scans—and other underlying structures.

ÖBrainIt contains the information that essentially makes you who you are: your intelligence, your memory, your personality, your emotions, your speech and your ability to feel and move. Certain areas of the brain are responsible for processing these different types of information. These are called the lobes, and there are four of them: the frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital lobes.

The brain has right and left halves called hemispheres. They are connected in the middle by a band of nerve fibers (the corpus callosum) that allows them to communicate. These halves may look like mirror images of each other, but many scientists believe they have different functions:

• The left side is considered the logical, analytical and objective side.
• The right side is considered to be more intuitive, creative, and subjective.

So when you balance your checkbook, use the left side. When listening to music, use the right side. It's thought that some people are more "right-brained" or "left-brained," while others are more "whole-brained," meaning they use both halves of their brains equally.

The outer layer of the brain is called dieKortex(also known as “grey matter”). The information gathered by the five senses reaches the brain up to the cortex. This information is then relayed to other parts of the nervous system for further processing. For example, when you touch the hot stove, it not only sends a message to move your hand, but also to another part of your brain to help remind you not to do it again.

In the forebrain are the thalamus, hypothalamus, and:

• ÖThalamustransmits messages to the cortex from sensory organs such as eyes, ears, nose and fingers.
• The hypothalamus controls your heart rate, thirst, appetite, sleep patterns, and other processes in your body that are automatic.
• The hypothalamus also controls thatpituitary, thereby controlling growth, metabolism, water and mineral balance, sexual maturity, and response to stress.

the midbrain

The midbrain, below the middle of the forebrain, acts as the main coordinator for all messages entering the brain and exiting to the spinal cord.

the hindbrain

The hindbrain lies below the posterior end of the cerebrum. It is formed by the cerebellum, pons and medulla. Ocerebellum- also called "little brain" because it looks like a small version of the brain - is responsible for balance, movement and coordination.

The pons and medulla, along with the midbrain, are often referred to as the pons and medullacerebral trunk🇧🇷 The brainstem receives, sends and coordinates messages from the brain. It also controls many of the body's automatic functions, such as breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, swallowing, digestion, and blinking.

How does the nervous system work?

The basic function of the nervous system depends heavily on tiny cells known asNeurons🇧🇷 The brain has billions of them and they have many specialized tasks. For example, sensory neurons send information from the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and skin to the brain. Motor neurons carry messages from the brain to the rest of the body.

All neurons transmit information through a complex electrochemical process, making connections that affect the way you think, learn, move, and behave.

intelligence, learning and memory.As you grow and learn, messages keep traveling from one neuron to another, creating connections or pathways in the brain. That's why driving requires so much focus when you first learn it, but then it becomes second nature: the path is mapped out.

In young children, the brain is very adaptable. In fact, when one part of a child's brain is damaged, another part can learn to take over some of the lost function. But as we age, the brain has to work harder to create new neural pathways, making it harder to master new tasks or change established behaviors. For this reason, many scientists believe it's important to keep challenging the brain to learn new things and make new connections - it helps keep the brain active throughout life.

Memory is another complex function of the brain. The things you have done, learned and seen are first processed in the cortex. Then, when you feel information is important enough to remember permanently, it's passed on to other brain regions (like the hippocampus and amygdala) for long-term storage and retrieval. As these messages travel through the brain, they also create pathways that serve as the basis of memory.

Movement.Different parts of the brain move different parts of the body. The left brain controls movements on the right side of the body and the right brain controls movements on the left side of the body. For example, when you step on the car accelerator with your right foot, the left brain sends the message that allows you to do so.

Basic bodily functions.Part of the peripheral nervous system calledvegetative NervensystemIt controls many of the bodily processes you almost never have to think about, like breathing, digestion, sweating, and tremors. The autonomic nervous system consists of two parts: the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system.

Ösympathetic nervous systemprepares the body for sudden exertions, like witnessing a robbery. When something frightening happens, the sympathetic nervous system makes the heart beat faster to send blood quickly to the different parts of the body that need it. It also causes the upper part of the kidneys to release adrenaline, a hormone that helps give your muscles extra strength for a quick escape. This process is known as the body's "fight-or-flight" response.

Öparasympathetic nervous systemdoes the opposite: it prepares the body for recovery. It also helpsdigestive tractmove so our bodies can efficiently absorb nutrients from the food we eat.

the senses

Eyesight.Sight probably tells us more about the world than any other sense. light enters theEyeforms an inverted image on the retina. The retina converts light into nerve signals for the brain. The brain then flips the image and tells you what you see.

Listen.Every sound you hear is the result of sound waves entering youearsand makes your eardrum vibrate. These vibrations then travel along the tiny bones in the middle ear and become nerve signals. The cortex then processes these signals and tells you what you are hearing.

I like.The tongue contains small clusters of sensory cells called taste buds that respond to chemicals in food. The taste buds respond to sweet, sour, salty, bitter and salty. The taste buds send messages to the areas of the cerebral cortex responsible for taste processing.

Odor.The olfactory cells in the mucous membranes lining each nostril respond to the chemicals you breathe in and send messages to the brain through specific nerves.

Toque.ÖFirstcontains millions of sensory receptors that collect information related to touch, pressure, temperature, and pain and send it to the brain for processing and response.