I feel that in order to be in the best health you can be, you must first really understand how the body works, or at least the basics. This way when you go to your doctors you can actually talk to him or her in their language and understand what is going on. I have found that by simply knowing what is going on within my body and how things operate, I can come up with ideas for the doctor to check out. I find this helpful because generally doctors move people in and out like cattle, trying to cram in as many people as possible within one day. So, for the next few postings, I will doing a series of topics about how the body works. Now, I am just outlining the operations of different systems, please understand that there is a lot more information on this, so if you become interested in learning more then please look into it. I am just here to help you have a starting place.

The biological response system includes your sense organs, nervous system, muscles, and endocrine glands. Our biological response systems play a major role in our behavior. In fact, along with the genes, they form the biological basis of human behavior and constitute a sub field of experimental psychology called biological psychology, psychobiology, or physiological psychology.

The Neuron - The human nervous system helps us respond with appropriate behavior to stimuli in the environment. It communicates information throughout the body. Specifically, the human nervous system caries messages about the environment from our sense organs to our brain where the messages are analyzed and decisions made. Then the nervous system carries messages about these decisions to our muscles and glands, so we can respond with the appropriate behavior. The human nervous system is made up of billions of tiny nerve cells called neurons.

The neuron is the basic unit of the nervous system. It is a specialized type of cell that conducts messages throughout the body. Like all cells, the neuron has a soma, or cell body that contains the nucleus and cytoplasm. The genetic material is contained in the nucleus and the normal cellular metabolism occurs in the cytoplasm. The cell membrane encloses the entire cell. The neuron has a short, finger like projections extending from the soma called dendrites. These receive incoming information from other neurons.

Each neuron has on axon, a tail like fiber projection along which messages are conducted. The place at which the axon meets the cell body is called the axon hillock. Axons may project up to several feet. For example, an axon from an individual neuron may travel down the length of a giraffe's neck, a distance of 3 meters. The axon is often covered by a protective substance called a myelin sheath. The fatty Myelin helps insulate long axons so information can travel through them quickly, and will not be interfered with by neighboring axons. The myeline sheath is not a continuous covering, but consists of segments with small gaps, called node of Ranvier. The lack of myelination, such as occurs in multiple sclerosis, results in severe disruptions in sensory and muscle functioning. At the end of the axon are the terminal buttons, or end branches.

The body has three types of neurons: sensory neurons, interneurons, and motor neurons. When you hear someone ask you a question, sensory neurons, or afferent neurons carry the information from your ears to your brain. Interneurons, or association neurons, carry the information throughout your brain so you can interpret the sensory information and think about what actions to take. When you decide how to respond, motor neurons, or efferent neurons, carry the information to your muscles so you can talk.

The axons of neurons outside the brain and spinal cord run together in bundles called nerves. Thus sensory neurons form sensory nerves and motor neurons form motor nerves. These form the peripheral nerves system.