what is the nervous system

“The nervous system is a very complex network whose main task is to regulate all activities in the body. Some include moving, seeing, and controlling the workings of all the organs in the body."

Thedoctormedical, united states – The nervous system functions to regulate every action the body performs by sending signals to each other from various parts of the body. For example, the nerves work to tell the heart to beat or tell the lungs to breathe without you even realizing it.

The nervous system itself consists of the brain, spinal cord, sensory organs, and all the nerves that are interconnected with the organs in the body. This system is also divided into two parts, namely the central and peripheral nerves. Central nerves consist of the brain and spinal cord, while peripheral nerves consist of somatic and autonomic.

The two systems work together to gather information from the body and the external environment. Next, the system will process the information that has been collected, then send instructions throughout the body and facilitate appropriate responses.

What Does the Nervous System Consist of?

To make it clearer and easier to understand, here are the functions of each part of the nerve :

1. Central nervous system

This section functions to receive information from all areas of the body. Then, the system will coordinate all of this information to produce the body's response. Organs that are included in the central nervous system, namely:

Brain. The brain is like the main control machine whose job is to control body functions including sensation, thought, movement, awareness, and memory or memories

spinal cord. This is an organ that is directly connected to the brain via the brainstem and runs along the vertebrae. This organ functions to carry information from all parts of the body to the brain and vice versa.
Neurons. A group of cells that make up the central nervous system, of which there are billions in the human body. All of these cells communicate with each other to produce physical responses and actions

2. Peripheral nerves

The peripheral nervous system is further divided into two components, namely somatic and autonomic. The somatic system part involves parts of the body that can be controlled at will and autonomously function to carry out tasks that you are not aware of, such as pumping blood.

Somatic system

These nerves consist of peripheral nerve fibers. These nerve fibers are in charge of taking sensory information or sensation from peripheral organs such as the skin. Later, the information will be brought to the central nervous system.

In addition to peripheral nerve fibers, the somatic nervous system also consists of motor nerve fibers that extend from the brain. Motor nerve fibers function to carry messages to move the body.

For example, when you accidentally touch the flame of a candle, the peripheral nerves will convey information to the brain that it is a hot sensation. After that, the motor nerves give a signal to the brain to move the fingers to immediately avoid, remove or withdraw the hand from the heat. Although the process looks long, it actually only takes one second.

Autonomic nerves

The autonomic nervous system is a complex network of cells that controls the internal state of the body. In contrast to somatic nerves, autonomic nerves regulate bodily functions outside one's awareness. There are two parts of the autonomic nervous system, namely sympathetic and parasympathetic. Here's the difference:

The sympathetic system is in charge of making a resistance response from within the body when there is a threat in a short time. For example, when you are feeling scared or nervous, the sympathetic nerves will trigger a response by speeding up the heart rate, producing sweat glands, increasing breathing, and so on.

The parasympathetic system is in charge of making a response and is responsible for keeping the body's functions running normally after a threat appears. So when the threat has passed, this system starts working to slow the heart rate, slow down breathing, reduce blood flow to the muscles and so on.