INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY-PSY 100

The Nervous System

The Nervous System is one of the major communication networks found in the body and its complex structures make me believe that it is well organized with up to a trillion neurons used to carry out its function. We learned that the two main parts of the nervous system are the Central Nervous System CNS) and the Peripheral Nervous System. These divisions are highly specialized to perform different tasks in the body. The Central Nervous System consists of the brain and the spinal cord. So, it means CNS is critical to the ability to function because everything in the body starts from the brain which acts as the commander center. As it goes by its name, the CNS is central to all behaviors you perform and mental processes. Meaning that, with the help of the brain, the CNS is the central processing center where every action, feeling, thought, and sensation is processed. On the other hand, the spinal cord handles all the incoming and outgoing messages through sensory nerves up to the brain. But sometimes the spinal code can produce automatic behaviors without involving the brain which we referred these processes as spinal reflexes (Hockenbury & Sandra 55-57).

The second part, the Peripheral Nervous System is quite complex because it has other two subdivisions, the somatic nervous system, and the autonomic nervous system. The somatic nervous system is crucial in communication throughout the entire body. It communicates sensory information through the sensory nerves up to the central nervous system. During this process, Peripheral Nervous System helps to carry messages along motor nerves and accelerates the central nervous system to perform voluntary muscle movements. This means all the different sensations we experience in the body are being communicated by your somatic nervous system. As messages pass from the brain and down the spinal cord, before they reach muscles they must pass through the somatic nervous system. The autonomic nervous system regulates involuntary functions like breathing, heartbeat, digestion, and blood pressure. So. it means this system is not completely self-regulating in the sense that emotions, relaxing your muscles and mental imagery influence your autonomic nervous system.

The autonomic nervous system also helps to regulate involuntary functions and this process is controlled by the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. The sympathetic nervous system tends to arouse the body to expend energy and thus help the body meet threats or emergencies. That is why when you get frightened you find yourself breathing heavily, your heart beats faster, your lungs expand or even digestion stops. On the other hand, the parasympathetic nervous system helps the body conserve and maintains physical resources including the energy used in the body. Contrary to the sympathetic nervous system, this system helps to calm down the body after an emergency and helps people return to their normality. I discovered that both the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems act and creates opposite effects, they help to keep the nervous system balanced (Hockenbury & Sandra 58-60).

Works Cited

Hockenbury, Don H., and Sandra E. Hockenbury. Discovering psychology. Six Edition Macmillan, 2014