What is the brain and how does it control the body ?

What is the brain and how does it control the body?

By Hugh Jenkins SCI - 102

Index

• Introduction• Misinformation about the brain• The real story about the brain• What should you know about your brain?• How do signals transfer information from the brain to the body

parts?• Physical and psychological disabilities• Types of brain injuries• Apps that provides exercises to help your brain maintain its

optimum health and functioning.• Conclusion• References

Misinformation about the brain

•We only use 10% of our brains. No, we use all parts of our brain and different parts control different bodily functions.• Our brain fully matures within the first few years. No, our brains

mature throughout our lives from conception onwards. However, some accidents and illnesses can cause deterioration, ie, head injuries, strokes, meningeal coccal etc.• Brain damage is always permanent. No, there are some cases

where the brain can repair itself. The location of brain injury and the severity of the damage determines how long it takes for the damage to heal. The use of different types of therapy can help individuals develop new neural connections (nerve cells) to re-map functions to be performed by different areas of the brain that are still healthy.

Misinformation about the brain• Your brain can not make new cells. No, your brain is

constantly creating new cells so that the brain remains healthy throughout your lifespan. Most neurons are created before birth. However, regions such as the hippocampus (area of the brain responsible for memory) and the olfactory bulb (region responsible for processing smell) continue to form new neurons throughout adulthood.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-anDUrp5tGz0/TW9gJ-9x_sI/AAAAAAAAAEg/Yl-a6oW6d5A/s1600/brain+%25281%2529.gif

The real story about the brain• The brain is the control centre for the body. It controls and

manages physical behaviours, ie, breathing, moving and vision, and psychological behaviours, ie, thinking, emotions and our actions. An injury to the brain can affect almost any function of the body and can sometimes affect personality.

• Cerebral Palsy has a variety of symptoms which depend upon the part of the brain that is affected as seen below.

http://www.abclawcenters.com/blog/2013/10/11/placental-abruption-causes-baby-to-134890

The real story about the brain• Changes in the brain can occur through injury and addiction. • Just like the changes that can happen to the brain after injury,

the same can happen as a cause of addiction. The damages that come from drug addiction can be fatal, in the picture below, is the transformation of the brain in 3 months. It is quite daunting the damage that could happen after a few years.

The real story about the brain• Brain development:• Starts towards the end of the first month of pregnancy.• By the second trimester of pregnancy most of the neurons in

our brains and body are formed and located in their destined position.

• Environmental influences:• Nutrition, ie, good quality food and fluids provide vital

vitamins, minerals for physical and mental health.• Toxins, ie, lead, mercury, cadmium and/or pesticides can

cause deficits in learning and cognitive abilities.• Educational influences:• Throughout our lives our brains continue to develop

synapses that enable new skills to be learned.

What should you know about your brain?

The brain is part of the nervous system which controls everything we do. There are two main sections: the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system:• The central nervous system consists of the brain and spinal

cord.• The peripheral nervous system consists of the nerve fibres

that branch off from the spinal cord and extend to all parts of the body, including the neck and arms, torso, legs, skeletal muscles and internal organs.

What should you know about your brain?

What should you know about your brain?

How do signals transfer information from the brain to the body parts?

“The brain sends messages through the spinal cord andnerves of the peripheralnervous system to control the movement of the muscles and the function of internal organs.”http://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/neuro/conditioninfo/Pages/parts.aspx

This picture shows neurons, axons, dendrites, neurotransmitters, and synapses that send messagesto and from the brain.

How do signals transfer information from the brain to the body parts?

• Neuron sends an electrical signal through the axon.• At the end of the axon the electrical signal changes to a

chemical signal and becomes a neurotransmitter.• The neurotransmitter travels through the synapse (space) to

the dendrite.• The dendrite changes the chemical signal back to an

electrical signal to meet the next neuron.• This process is repeated numerous times until the message

gets from the brain to the desired part of the body to perform the required function.

Physical and psychological disabilities

Some examples include:• Down syndrome: babies are born with:• an extra 21st chromosome, • fewer cortical neurons and synapses (spaces for learning new

things), and • less myelin causing physical impairment and psychological

cognitive (thinking) impairment within the brain (Ormrod, 2008).• Cerebral palsy: • Resulting from a brain injury or brain malformation occurring

while the brain is developing before, during or after birth. • Muscle control, muscle coordination, muscle tone, reflex, posture

and balance, fine motor skills, gross motor skills and oral motor functioning are affected.

Types of brain injuries

Brain injuries: traumatic injuries or a non-traumatic injuries.• Traumatic brain injury occurs as a result of any strong impact to the

head which often affects many parts of the brain rather than just a single region. The two main types injuries.• A penetrating injury (open head injury), occurs when an object

penetrates the skull to damage the brain inside, ie, a gunshot.• A non-penetrating injury (closed head injury) occurs when the skull

is not significantly damaged or can be surgically repaired after hitting a hard object, however, the brain can not. Examples include: Thomas Kelly and Daniel Christie’s deaths from head injuries due to ‘coward punches’.

• Symptoms of a traumatic brain injury are: • Physical impairment• Cognitive (thinking) impairment• Emotional and Behavioural issues

http://www.minfirm.com/practice-areas/traumatic-brain-injury

Types of brain injuries• A non-traumatic acquired brain injury occurs as a result of internal

issues within the brain and/or body rather than external issues outside the body. They include:• Anoxic injury – where the brain does not receive adequate oxygen

(ie, after a cardiac arrest).• Toxic or metabolic injury – occurs after exposure to unsafe

substances (ie, lead) or after kidney failure which results in a build up of the body's own chemicals.

• Meningitis and Encephalitis – infections of the brain often caused by a virus.

• Brain Tumours – malignant tumours that spread quickly to other parts of the brain and spine while benign tumours can put pressure on the brain and damage healthy tissue.

• Stroke – occurs when the blood supply to the brain is cut off or interrupted for some reason. Without blood, the cells in the brain start to die and this is when the injury occurs.

Apps that provides exercises to help your brain maintain its optimum health and functioning.

New, fun and varied activities as well asregular physical activity can make new

brain cells and make the connections between existing brain cells stronger.

Otherwise if too many cells die without being replaced, the person will die as thebrain can no longer function and support

the body (Alzheimer’s Australia, 2014).

Conclusion• The brain works in many ways, there is a section of the brain to control

every last thing that we do.• As well as sending information the brain also receives signals from the

body identifying whether it is hot/cold, damaged as well as what it can see, hear and smell.

• Comparing the pictures of people with cerebral palsy, their physical disabilities are as evident in the brain scans as looking at the actual person.

• Whereas the progressive pictures of the drug user’s brain clearly shows the damage that the addiction is doing to the brain, however, the damage seen in the scan is more obvious than the damage evident on the body of the drug user.

• The brain can show damage that no-one knows is there, even though brain damage is not always permanent, the brain has to work hard to fix itself so prevention through healthy lifestyles is easier than finding a cure.

• However, for some people genetics has an overriding influence on the brain and its ability to effectively control the body.

ReferencesBrain Injury Overview: What is it? and What Does it Affect? (2012). RIC Life Centre. Retrieved from

http://lifecenter.ric.org/index.php?tray=content&tid=top102&cid=2161

Cause of Cerebral Palsy (2014). (n.d). My Child at Cerebral Palsy.org Retrieved from

http://cerebralpalsy.org/about-cerebral-palsy/cause/

Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Retrieved from

http://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/neuro/conditioninfo/Pages/parts.aspx

Hedlund, T. (2014). Integrating Science into the healing of heart and mind. Retrieved from

http://www.thomashedlund.com/

Messa & Associates (2014). (n.d). Retrieved from

http://www.minfirm.com/practice-areas/traumatic-brain-injury

ReferencesNon-traumatic brain injury (2014). (n.d) The Children’s Trust for children with brain injury.

Retrieved from http://www.braininjuryhub.co.uk/information-library/non-traumatic

Ormrod, J. E. (2008). Human Learning (5th Ed.). Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River,

NJ & Columbus, Ohio.

Physical effects of brain injury (2014). (n.d). Headway The Brain Industry Association. Retrieved

from https://www.headway.org.uk/physical.aspx

Placental abruption causes baby to be oxygen deprived and develop cerebral palsy. A few years

later, the boy takes his first steps (2013). (n.d). Retrieved from

http://www.abclawcenters.com/blog/2013/10/11/placental-abruption-causes-baby-to-13489

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