Nervous System 101!

One of my goals this year is to continue to expand on my knowledge and skills to be able to help serve more members of the community. I enjoy challenging and complex neurological cases, so I want to focus my energy into learning more about the brain and associated neurological conditions. 

Alongside all the in house training each week, I’ve also been doing an online course to help me understand the ins and outs of the brain in more detail. The brain is the most complex organ in the human body, and there's still a lot about it that we don't understand. But before we can delve deeper into the brain, we need to understand more about the nervous system as a whole.

Central nervous system

Spinal cord

• Spinal cord allows transmission of signals between brain and body

Brain 

• Forebrain processes information relating to cognitive functions like speech and voluntary movement, and controls homeostasis within the body
• Midbrain connects forebrain and hindbrain, and brain to spinal cord, as well as coordinating movement of the eyes
• Hindbrian regulates things like blood pressure, heart rate, and sleep cycle, as well as reflexes like sneezing and swallowing

Somatic nervous system

• Motor and sensory neurons that help control voluntary movements

Autonomic nervous system

• Neurons that connect the CNS to the other organs in the body
• Made up of sympathetic and parasympathetic pathways

Sympathetic nervous system

• Fight or flight response
• Prepares the body for stressful or high energy situations

Parasympathetic nervous system

• Rest and Digest Response
• Opposite to the sympathetic nervous system
• Conserves energy and helps the body relax and sleep

We spend most of our time with clients trying to regulate the sympathetic nervous system, to help people come out of the stressful fight or flight response we often get caught up in. Taking the body from survival mode, into a place where it can thrive and heal.