| The Internet as we know it may well have had the | | | | identifiable threat. This is often counterproductive to the |
| human nervous system as its inspiration. | | | | actual needs of the body. |
| The nervous system relies on a high-speed | | | | The journey of the nerve impulses has been described |
| communications network to alert the brain to | | | | as "An electrical charge that travels down the cell |
| information that affects all areas of the body. | | | | membrane of a neuron's dendrite and/or axon through |
| For instance the impulses sent from the nervous | | | | the action of the Na-K pump. Ordinarily, the inside of a |
| system to the brain travel at up to 250 miles per hour. | | | | neuron's cell membrane is negatively-charged while the |
| This is infinitely faster than the endocrine system that | | | | outside is positively-charged. When sodium and |
| sends hormones through the bloodstream and may | | | | potassium ions change places, this reverses the inner |
| take an hour to get to their destination. | | | | and outer charges causing the nerve impulse to travel |
| The nervous system has the full attention of the brain | | | | down the membrane. A nerve impulse is "all-or-none:" it |
| and the brain responds. The responses can be the | | | | either goes or not, and there's no halfway. However, a |
| result of pain, enjoyment or other sensory data. | | | | neuron needs a threshold stimulus, the minimum level of |
| Electrically charged neurons make up the | | | | stimulus needed, to trigger the Na-K pump to go and |
| communications landscape of the nervous system. | | | | the impulse to travel. A neuron cannot immediately fire |
| When the nervous system kicks in electrical charges | | | | again; it needs time for the sodium and potassium to |
| and chemical reactions are generated as information is | | | | return to their places and everything to return to |
| sent on a fast track to a brain that either calls for | | | | normal. This time is called the refractory period. |
| action or reaction to the supplied data stream. | | | | "A junction between two nerve cells or a nerve and a |
| The three primary elements of the nervous system | | | | muscle cell is called a synapse. In a synapse, various |
| are the brain, the spinal chord and a complex nerve | | | | chemicals are used to transfer the impulse across the |
| network reaching all areas of your body. | | | | gap to the next cell. These are collectively known as |
| There are at least 24 different nerve centers in the | | | | neurotransmitters, and include such chemicals as |
| body and all five senses are reflected in the system | | | | dopamine (brain levels of which are low in Parkinson's |
| controlled by neurons. | | | | disease), serotonin, and acetylcholine (levels of which |
| The function of the nervous system is to gear the | | | | are low in myasthenia gravis)." [1] |
| body up for action or calm it to the point of relaxation. | | | | The body's nervous system is an intricate method that |
| The problem comes when our actions and our thought | | | | relies on a logical series of events to trigger an |
| patterns tell our body's nervous system to react in a | | | | appropriate body response. Without this system we |
| way counter to what the body actually needs. For | | | | could not exist. |
| instance we can insist on being worried and our body's | | | | Perhaps the nervous system looks designed because |
| nervous system works overtime to help us keep | | | | it is designed. |
| tense and alert when the risk we imagine is not an | | | | |