Name : Nurain Shaikh

Roll no: 71

Nervous System and Brain

The nervous system is the system that coordinates all the internal
and external activities of the body. It also enables the body to
respond to any stimuli and adapt to changes taking place both inside
and outside of the body. The nervous system is divided into two
systems: (1) The central nervous system (2) The peripheral nervous
system.
(1)The central nervous system: It is also called as the master control
unit. The central nervous system includes the brain and the spinal
cord.
BRAIN: The brain is situated in the skull. The brain has 6 major
sections; cerebrum, cerebellum, midbrain, pons, diencephalon and
medulla oblongata.
Cerebrum is further divided into 4 lobes;
i} Frontal lobe is primarily responsible for reasoning, thought, motor
control and behavior.
ii} Parietal lobe integrates sensory information like pain, stress touch
etc.
iii} Temporal lobe controls the visuals and stores it in this brain in the
form of memories and process auditory information from the ears.
iv} Occipital lobe helps in recognition of colors words and
movements processing visual information from the eyes.
Cerebellum is a very important part of the brain that controls
essential body functions like muscle co-ordination, balance, posture
and muscle tone. It is located below the cerebrum and above the 1st
cervical neck.
Diencephalon is located between the cerebrum in the midbrain. It
contains two structures known as thalamus that directs the sensory
impulses to the cerebrum and hypothalamus controls and regulates
autonomic nervous system functions like temperature, appetite,
water balance, sleep and blood vessel constriction and dilation.
Midbrain is located below cerebrum and responsible for auditory and
eyes reflexes.
Pons is located below midbrain in brainstem. It is responsible for
certain reflex action like saliva production, chewing etc.
Medulla oblongata is situated at the bottom of the brainstem and
connects to the spinal cord. It is responsible for regulating heart and
blood vessel functions, digestion, coughing, sneezing etc
Spinal cord: It is the link between the brain and nerves present
throughout the body. Spinal cord has 4 regions cervical, thoracic,
lumbar and spinal nerves.
(2) The peripheral nervous system: The peripheral nervous system is
the link between the body and the outside world. It is subdivided
into autonomic nervous system and somatic nervous system.
A] The somatic nervous system nearly controls all voluntary
movements like eating, hearing, etc. This system consists afferent
neurons that carries sensory information from sensory organs to CNS
and efferent neurons that carries motor signals from CNS to skeletal
muscles.
B] The autonomic nervous system regulates involuntary bodily
process like heart rate, respiration etc. it operates automatically
without conscious direction. The autonomic is further separated into
two categories: i} Sympathetic nervous system ii}
Parasympathetic nervous system
i} Sympathetic nervous system stimulates and mobilizes bodily
resources in response to threat by speeding heart rate, respiration,
adrenaline in stressful situations and drawing stored energy from
bodily reserves (either escaping or defending the threat) this is
known as ‘fight or flight’ response.
ii} Parasympathetic nervous system plays an important role in
bringing the body back to normal from the sympathetic division by
promoting digestion and slowing down heart rate and other bodily
process. It preserves the balance known as homeostasis by returning
the body into resting state. This nervous system is being described as
‘rest and digest’ response.