The nervous system is made up of all the nerve cells in your body.

It is through the nervous system that

we communicate with the outside world and, at the same time, many mechanisms inside our body are
controlled. The nervous system takes in information through our senses, processes the information and
triggers reactions, such as making your muscles move or causing you to feel pain. For example, if
you touch a hot plate, you reflexively pull back your hand and yournerves simultaneously send pain
signals to your brain. Metabolic processes are also controlled by the nervous system.

There are many billions of nerve cells, also called neurons, in the nervous system. The brain alone has
about 100 billion neurons in it. Each neuron has a cell body and various extensions. The shorter
extensions (called dendrites) act like antennae: they receive signals from, for example, other neurons and
pass them on to the cell body. The signals are then passed on via a long extension (the axon), which can
be up to a meter long... Read more about the Nervous System

the three basic types of neurons are represented in the Reflex Arc above.
The Afferent Neuron or Sensory Neuron receives information from the sensory
receptors and carries the impulse from the sense receptors to the central nervous
system. In this example the touch receptors in the skin are relaying information through
the Afferent "Sensory" Neuron from the environment to the spinal cord.
The Interneuron or the Associative neuron is the transfer station or the decision making
neuron. In the case of the reflex arc the Interneuron would make a decision to respond
or not respond based upon the intensity of the stimulus.
The Efferent Neuron of Motor Neuron would then return the impulse back to the muscle
or gland that would need to respond.
We have all had the doctor strike our patellar tendon with a rubber hammer. The
Afferent "Sensory" Neuron receives the information of the force of the strike on our
tendon. This information is relayed quickly up the neuron to the spinal cord where the
Interneuron would decide if the stimulus warrants a response. If a response ins
necessary the Efferent "Motor" Neuron returns the impulse to the muscle of the legs
causing the lower leg to react.