The Nervous System

The basic purpose of the Nervous System is to coordinate all of the activities of the body. It enables the body to respond and adapt to changes that occur both inside and outside the body.

The two major parts of the Nervous System are the Central Nervous System and the Peripheral Nervous System.
The Central Nervous System is also divided into two major structures. The Brain and the Spinal Cord.

The Brain is found within the skull, or cranium and it is made up of 6 main sections. These six are the Cerebrum, Cerebellum, Diencephalon, the Midbrain, Pons, and the Medulla Oblongata.

The other half of the Central Nervous System is the Spinal Cord. The spinal cord is the link between the brain and the nerves in the rest of your body. The spinal cord is divided into four different regions: the cervical, thoracic, lumbar, and, afferent and efferent spinal nerves, which merge to form peripheral nerves.

Now that we know the Brain and Spinal Cord primarily make up the Central Nervous System, let’s look at the Peripheral Nervous System.

The Peripheral Nervous System is essentiallly, the Nervous System outside of the brain and spinal cord. The Peripheral Nervous System is subdivided into two smaller systems called the Somatic Nervous System, and the Autonomic Nervous System.