Body Mechanics

 

Have you ever wondered how your eyelids know exactly when to blink without you telling them to do so or how your elevated heart rate knows when to slow down, moreover how that bite of food knows how to slide down your throat to your stomach? All of these actions occur because your nervous system and muscular system work together. The human nervous systems main organs are the brain and spinal cord, neurons are the main cell type and they send signals to the muscular system to coordinate movements. The muscular system contains over 200+ muscles that respond to received messages with a bodily movement reaction. So how does this happen on a microscopic level?

The nervous system contains two subsystems the central nervous system (CNS) and the peripheral nervous system (PNS). When a stimulus message is received from a stimuli it travels to the brain to be processed, the brain then determines what chemical message known as a neurotransmitter needs to be released. The neurotransmitter then travels through the PNS to the site of the initial message for the response to occur. It is at the response site that the muscular system is then activated. This site is known as the neuromuscular junction, it is here where the nervous and muscular systems exchange messages.

The muscular system has three main types of muscles:

1. skeletal muscle that attaches to the human bones form physical movement
2. smooth muscle that lines our internal organs
3. cardiac muscle which is found in the heart

All three muscle types are activated by the nervous system which enables your brain to control all of your bodily functions without you even thinking about it.