Categories: GENERAL BIOLOGYZOOLOGY

Parts of the Nervous System

there are two major parts of the nervous system. The center of the nervous system in the brain. The brain captures what your eyes see and ears hear, and if you decide you want to move, your brain tells your muscles to do so.

Your brain causes your muscles to move by sending small electrical signals through your nerves. Do you remember how neurons can be really long? Well, nerves are just a lot of those really long neurons, all together. These really long neurons send a small electric shock to your muscles, which causes them to move, moving your body.

The nervous system is really complicated, but it can be divided into two really general parts. One is the Central Nervous System (or CNS). The CNS is made up of the brain and spinal cord. The brain and spinal cord are inside your skull and vertebrae (the vertebrae form your spine). These bones protect the CNS when you get into accidents.

Automatic changes

A second way to divide the nervous system is based on what it does. Suppose you were in the forest and met a bear. You would want to run away, and fast! A part of your nervous system makes sure you can run to a safe place. This part is called the sympathetic nervous system. When the sympathetic nervous system turns on, your heart beats faster and more blood is pumped to your muscles so you can fight or run like crazy.

But fortunately, you don’t meet bears. There is another part of the nervous system that ensures that your daily needs are met. It is called the parasympathetic nervous system. When you eat and drink water, the parasympathetic nervous system activates to make sure your body digest it properly. It’s not as exciting as running from a bear, but it’s just as important, if not more.

Your breathing, your heart beating, and your entrails moving: you don’t have to think about these things. Your nervous system takes care of them automatically (thank you, nervous system!) But even if you don’t think about them, they can be changed. And the sympathetic and parasympathetic parts of the system cause much of that change.

Together, the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems make up the autonomous system of the SNP. The other part of the SNP, the somatic system, controls all the voluntary muscles in your body. So when you decide to move a muscle, you are using the somatic part of your PNS.

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