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The Nervous System
Today we are going to learn about the nervous system…
We all know that humans have five senses, sight, which is the ability to see through our eyes, taste, which we use to enjoy different flavors, smell, which allows us to smell the wonderful scents in flowers, hearing, which we use to listen to our favorite music and touch, which is how we feel tickles or soft caresses through our skin. Well our nervous system is what receives all this information captured by the senses, interprets it and responds to each situation.
The nervous system has special cells called neurons and it is divided into two parts: the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system.
The central nervous system is made up of the brain and the spinal cord. The skull is where the brain is located, as well as the cerebellum and the brain stem. The brain occupies the largest part of the skull and is in charge of controlling our memory, emotions and voluntary actions such as reading, writing or jumping.
The cerebellum also coordinates our balance as well as our movements. It is because of it that we are not constantly falling down, thank you cerebellum!
The brain stem links the brain to the spinal cord and controls the automatic actions such as our heart beat or the blinking of our eyes, which happens without us even realizing it.
The spinal cord is another part of the central nervous system. It is within our spine and is almost like a highway connecting the brain to all the bodies’ nerves. The spinal cord is responsible for all the reflexes, like when you touch something hot, we pull our hand away
instinctively, without even thinking.
The peripheral nervous system is a set of nerves which travel around our body and is divided in two major parts: sensory nerves and musculoskeletal system.
The sensory nerves carry information received by the five senses to the brain; the musculoskeletal system transmits the brain’s responses allowing the muscles to perform. So if we were to fall into the water, for example, the automatic system would send a message to our muscles ordering us to swim and get out of the water, thank goodness, because otherwise we would drown.
Well now you know about the nervous system, it’s real interesting isn’t it?
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