The Nervous System
Donald Hebb, a Canadian neuropsychologist known for his work in the field of associative learning coined the phrase “Neurons that fire together, wire together,” in 1949. This phrase has become the holy grail of neuroscience today. What this phrase means is that experiences, thoughts, feelings, physical sensations, actions and even observations activate particular neural networks. And when we repeat an experience over and over, the brain learns to trigger the same neurons each time. In other words, they are wired. This process is often referred to as neuroplasticity.
One of the most powerful things I do with my clients is to help them wire their brains so that long-lasting, positive change occurs. In other words, I help them create positive neuroplasticity. What clients don't realise is that during our sessions, they are rewiring their own brains.
The science of a fulfilling life
Let’s look at parts of the nervous system that enable us to experience life to understand how to rewire our brains and create positive neuroplasticity. That might sound boring, but our nervous system allows us to think, feel, imagine and do every single thing we accomplish from the day we're born until the day we die. Our nervous system is our body’s command centre. I aim for clients to understand how they work and how they can apply that knowledge to achieve more and live a more fulfilling life.
Before we get started, let me remind you that I am not a medical doctor and your health and well-being are your responsibility. I don't prescribe anything. I am a humble student, curious about how to live a long and healthy life and how I can help others do the same.
The nervous system includes our brain and our spinal cord, as well as all the connections between our brain, our spinal cord and the organs of our body. It also includes all the connections between our organs back to our spinal cord and brain. In every moment of our life everything we think, remember, feel and imagine – the good, the bad and the ugly – is this continuous loop of communication between the brain, spinal cord and body and body, spinal cord and brain. It's one continuous loop and we really can't separate them.
In order to understand this extraordinary level of connectivity, let's look at an example. When we have an infection, this structure allows us to deploy immune cells that will kill the infection. Most people just think about that as a function of the immune system. But actually, it's our nervous system that tells organs like our spleen to release killer cells that go and hunt down those bacterial and viral invaders and gobble them up. If we have a stomach ache, for instance, although the pain is in our stomach, it's really our nervous system that's causing the stomach ache. In short, the nervous system governs all other biological systems of the body, and it's also influenced by other biological systems.
The energy flow within us
Our body is made up of trillions of little nerve cells called neurons. They are electrically excitable cells that process and transmit information, communicating either electrically or, more commonly, chemically. These powerful cells have a few key components:
Core cell body with a nucleus: think of this as the cell’s “mini-brain”
Axon: a long single extension coming out of the cell body that is responsible for transmitting electrical impulses to other neurons. Think of this as a cell transmission cable.
Dendrites: thin structures that also extend from the cell body but that multiply and give the illusion of a ‘dendritic tree’
Neurons are separated by little gaps called synapses (also known as synaptic gaps). Each neuron can be connected to as many as 15,000 other neurons through these synapses. A nerve impulse (an action potential) travels down the axon and releases chemicals (neurotransmitters) into these gaps (synapses). These neurotransmitters then travel across the synaptic gap and attach to receptor sites on the postsynaptic cell. This may or may not generate another action potential.
The best way to think about our body and the thoughts in our mind is as a flow of electricity. There’s a flow of electricity between these different nerve cells, and our perceptions and experiences depend on which nerve cells are active– we might lift our arm or lower our arm, or we might see something red, or green all depending on which nerve cells are electrically active at a given moment. So, really, the language of the nervous system is just electricity.
This electrical activity of the neurons dictates our life experience. The formation of memories at its most basic level occurs at the synapse. As neurotransmitters communicate from the presynaptic neuron, across the synaptic gap to the postsynaptic neuron, the connection between the two neurons is strengthened. Consider two people passing a ball between themselves. Each person is a neuron and the ball is the neurotransmitter. Normally the passing of the ball is a little slow and clunky in the beginning, sometimes the ball even gets dropped on the floor. However, the more they throw it back and forth, the more the neurons communicate with one another, and the quicker they are able to. The connections between neurons are strengthened and result in the storage of information, which results in memory. This process is called long-term potentiation.
The more you know
Long-term potentiation is described as a long-lasting enhancement in the transmission of signals between two neurons as a result of stimulating them synchronously. This ability for synapses to change their strength is vital for neuroplasticity, the ability of the brain to change– in future posts, I’ll dive more deeply into this topic.
So, what's the point of knowing all this? There are several answers to this question, but most importantly, our knowledge shapes our lives and as we work to unlock your potential, it’s valuable to have some basic knowledge of different areas of the nervous system and how everything functions to build a solid foundation. In future posts, we’ll explore other fundamental areas and functions of the most important real estate in our body .... our brain.
It’s ever-complex brain science…but don't worry. I’m here to break it down in a way that’s applicable and relatable to your life. And I promise we’ll have some fun along the way!
