People may feel stressed out, have anxiety, or say, "It's getting on my nerves."  Well, what does that mean?  I thought it might be interesting to do a quick review of the Nervous System.  

It can be confusing but if you think of it as a tree with branches, it is easier to understand.  

First, the Nervous System is made up of a complex system of cells called Neurons.  That is simple enough.

These neurons act as a communication network to transmit signals between different body parts. It controls all of the body's responses and functions.   Neurons transmit signals through thin fibers called axons.  This causes neurotransmittors to be released at junctions called synapses.  So far so good, eh?

There are two main components to the Nervous System:

1.  The central nervous system  includes the brain, spinal cord, and nerves. 

2.  The peripheral nervous system is made up of sensory neurons throughout the body.  It monitors external and internal conditions and sends signals to the central nervous system.  (Barclay 2020, Zimmerman 2018). Its primary role is to connect the CNS to the organs, limbs, and skin.

Now this is where it gets a bit tricky.

The peripheral nervous system is divided into  parts.

a.  The somatic nervous system sends sensory and motor information to and from the central nervous system. (Soma means Body in Greek). This contains 2 types of neurons, motor and sensory.  

b. The autonomic nervous system regulates involuntary body functions.  It controls visceral and cardiac muscle tissue and initiates the body's sympathetic "fight or flight" response, and the parasympathetic "rest and digest" response.  It also houses the enteric nervous system which is responsible for digestion. 

 The enteric nervous system is a lesser known part of our body’s nervous system located in our gut. It consists of a network of nerves, neurons and neurotransmitters and extends along the entire digestive tract.

In general, sympathetic stimulation inhibits digestion by slowing down motility and reducing gastrointestinal secretions. Conversely, parasympathetic stimuli typically stimulate these digestive activities.

The enteric nervous system relies on the same type of neurons and neurotransmitters that are found in the central nervous system.  This has some medical experts calling it our “second brain.” (Cleveland Clinic.org)

See, everything is connected! 

That is about as far as I go this time around on the nervous system.  As a non-medical professional, I only can dive so deep.  My grandpa had Parkinson's disease and I know many with anxiety and stress-related disorders so it holds my interest.    

I've also witnessed the connection between the gut and nerves personally.  Your emotional state can make your appetite disappear or you can become ravenous.  Sometimes your food just doesn't sit right if you have problems swirling in your head.  This is why I prefer people to sit calmly when they eat and not to grab food when anxious.  Of course, who can do this when they are stressed out and anxious!

It will be interesting to see where science leads us in the coming years.  It is known that stress-reducing strategies like meditation and deep breathing work at some level to bring down our fight or flight response and I know that connection with loved ones is more satisfying than any piece of chocolate cake. 

I did a quick search on Google for recent news on the nervous system.  Below is what I found.  It was dated Jan 2021.  It is worth reading and demonstrates how paramount it is to understand how our actions can impact generations. I took this word for word and references are included. 

"Early life experiences can have an outsized effect on brain development and neurobiological health. New research is showing that those effects can be passed down to subsequent generations, reporting that the infant children of mothers who had experienced childhood emotional neglect displayed altered brain circuitry involved in fear responses and anxiety".

The study appears in Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging.

"These results show that our brain development is not only shaped by what happens in our own life, but is also impacted by things that happened to our parents before we were even conceived," said lead author of the study, Cassandra Hendrix, PhD, Department of Pyschology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA 

I chose not to rewrite as I did not want my own interpretations of the study's results.  There is so much to learn!  If anyone has a better understanding of the nervous system and would like to contribute, you are more than welcome.  :).