As you think, see, breath and do everything throughout the day, you are using your central nervous system. It is the system of the body that receives and processes all information from all parts of the body. It consists of the brain, the spinal cord and neurons. It is arguably the most important system of the body.

Parts & Functions of the Central Nervous System

Neurons are the basic units that make up the nervous system. All cells of the nervous system are made of neurons. Neurons are able to transmit electrical impulses throughout the body as signals that cause a response. There are three types of neurons known as motor, sensory and interneurons. Motor neurons transmit information between organs, glands and muscles. Sensory neurons send information to the brain and spinal cord from internal organs or external stimuli encountered by the parts of the body. Interneurons act as messengers that relate signals between motor and sensory neurons.

The brain is the control center of the body. The brain is typically considered to have three main parts: the forebrain, the hindbrain and the brain stem. The forebrain receives and processes sensory information such as thinking, understanding and producing language and motor functions. The forebrain consists of the thalamus, the hypothalamus, cerebrum and cerebral cortex.

In short the nervous system is what makes us human. It allows us to feel, think, act, live, love etc.

Sensing and acting
The sensory neurons gather input such as temperature, body position, pain, light, hunger etc. This information is transmitted through the nerves to the brain where the information is processed. This processing means interpreting what to do with the information. When this is decided a signal can be send through the nerves to generate output such as contraction of a muscle when your hand touches a hot surface.

Control of all bodily processes
Next to sensing and acting, the nervous system controls all processes in the body. It can stimulate tissues to produce hormones and enzymes. It stimulates the involuntary movement of muscles such as the heart and the bowels.

Movement and emotion
Not unimportant is that the nervous system allows you to move your body by voluntary control of the muscles. As part of the nervous system, the brain is of course extremely important in generating emotions, allowing you to enjoy, love, be angry and sad. The brain enables learning, memorizing, thinking, dreaming, control of behavior etc etc etc.