Brain-to-Body Connections

Psychosomatic (or somatic for short) refers to the mind-body connection.

 The brain and body are connected through neural pathways made up of
neurotransmitters, hormones and chemicals. These pathways transmit signals
between the body and the brain to control our everyday functions, from breathing,
digestion, and pain sensations to movement, thinking, and feeling.
 The nervous system uses tiny cells called neurons (NEW-ronz) to send messages
back and forth from the brain, through the spinal cord, to the nerves throughout
the body.
 Billions of neurons work together to create a communication network.
 The central nervous system includes the brain and spinal cord.
 Central nervous system (CNS): Your brain and spinal cord make up your CNS. Your
brain uses your nerves to send messages to the rest of your body. Each nerve has a
protective outer layer called myelin. Myelin insulates the nerve and helps the messages
get through.
 The peripheral nervous system includes the nerves that run throughout the whole body.
 Peripheral nervous system: Your peripheral nervous system consists of many nerves that
branch out from your CNS all over your body. This system relays information from your
brain and spinal cord to your organs, arms, legs, fingers and toes. Your peripheral
nervous system contains your:
 Somatic nervous system, which guides your voluntary movements.
 Autonomic nervous system, which controls the activities you do without thinking about
them.
 Different neurons have different jobs. For example, sensory neurons send information
from the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and skin to the brain.
 Motor neurons carry messages away from the brain to the rest of the body to allow
muscles to move. These connections make up the way we think, learn, move, and feel.
They control how our bodies work — regulating breathing, digestion, and the beating of
our hearts

Your nervous system affects every aspect of your health, including your:

 Thoughts, memory, learning, and feelings.

 Movements, such as balance and coordination.
 Senses, including how your brain interprets what you see, hear, taste, touch and feel.
 Sleep, healing and aging.
 Heartbeat and breathing patterns.
 Response to stressful situations.
 Digestion, as well as how hungry and thirsty you feel.
 If you lose this phschosomatic connection they will become brain dead, it means
that the brain is no

longer working in any capacity and never will again. Other organs, such as the heart,
kidneys or liver, can still work for a short time if the breathing machine is left in place,
but when brain death is declared, it means the person has died.

Herophilus
Herophilus was the first to examine and report on the structure of the nervous system. He was
able to do this by dissecting human cadavers [19], a practice that was in many places
abandoned until the sixteenth century CE [20]. This method allowed him to make many
discoveries.