What is the Nervous system?

The nervous system, essentially the body’s electrical wiring, is a complex collection of nerves
and specialized cells known as neurons that transmit signals between different parts of the body.
The nervous system is your body’s decision and communication center

Central nervous system

Is the integration and command of the center of the body. It consists of the brain spinal cord.
-receives and processes all the information from all parts of the body
Control the entire organ system of the body.

Peripheral nervous system

Consists of sensory neurons, ganglia (clusters of neurons), and nerves that connect the central nervous
system to arms, hands, legs, and feet.
-divided into two more divisions the somatic and autonomic nervous system
.

Somatic Nervous system

-regulates the activities that are under conscious control it includes all the nerves controlling the muscular
system and external sensory receptors which refer to the external sense organs (eyes, ears, nose, skin, and
tongue).

Autonomic Nervous system

-Includes the motor neurons that control the internal organs.
-Regulates all activities that are Involuntary or done without conscious will
-Controlling the muscles in the heart and the smooth muscles in the internal organs such as the intestines,
bladder, and the uterus
-Subdivides into sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems

Sympathetic Nervous System

- “Fight or Flight response.”
- Controls the internal functions of the body in times of stress
- Responsible for the acceleration of heart rate, the constriction of blood vessels and the rise of blood
pressure

Parasympathetic Nervous System

- “Rest and digest”
- Controls the internal functions at rest
- Slow down the heart rate and increases the intestinal and gland activities

Cranial Nervous system

These are nerves that connect the brain to the eyes, mouth, ears, and other parts of the head.

Brain
- “Control Center” is Divided into three main regions the cerebrum, cerebellum, and brain stem

Spinal Cord
- About 40-50 cm long
- Connects the brain and the body.
- Composed of gray and white matter
- Transmits impulses all over the body to and from the brain
- Responsible for involuntary movements (e.g. reflexes)

Neuron or Nerve cell

Which carries impulses to the nervous system. Neurons are information messengers. They use electrical
impulses and chemical signals to transmit information between different areas of the brain, and between
the brain and the rest of the nervous system.
A neuron is composed of the cell body which contains the nucleus and is covered by the myelin sheath
with an axon terminal at its end.
The Schwann cell is what produces the myelin sheath a dendrite is called the receptor site of neurons as
signals originate at its end of
The Dendrite receives the impulses and carries these toward the cell body.
The Axon carries the impulses away from the cell body which passes along the different parts of the
neuron. axon then passes the impulses to the dendrite of the other neuron cell body in the muscle cells.
The Nodes of Ranvier allow the generation of a fast electrical impulse along the axon.