Nervous system

• CNS - part of the nervous system that contains the brain and the spinal cord. The origin of all complex commands and decision. It contains our behaviour and regulates our physiological thought processes.
• The spinal cord is a collection of nerve cells that are attached to the brain and run the length of the spinal column. The main function of the spinal cord is to relay information from the brain to the rest of the body, thus allowing the brain to regulate processes such as digestion, breathing and also to co-ordinate voluntary muscle movement. The brain is involved in higher order thinking and functions.
• Peripheral nervous system

  • all the nerves outside the CNS make up the PNS
  • contains the somatic and autonomic nervous systems
  • responsible for receiving the information from the CNS and sending it to the rest of the body
  • also receives information from the body and sends this back to the CNS
  • it can be split into the somatic and autonomic
• Somatic nervous system compromises of sensory and motor neurons.

  Sensory neurons sends messages to the CNS and motor neurons sends information from the CNS to the muscles attached to the skeleton.

  It is important in the control of movement as well as receiving information from the sensory receptors.
• Autonomic nervous system

  • carries out actions in the body without your conscious awareness.
  • important for survival of the individual and affects thee reaction to threat along with returning the body back to normal levels, (homeostasis).
  • responsible for regulating heart rate, breathing, digestion, sexual arousal and the stress response.
  • SYMPATHETIC - involved in responses that help us deal with a threat
  • PARASYMPATHETIC - involved in bringing the body back to normal levels again
• Divisons of the nervous system