Psychology Essays (UOP)

Psy/340 Regulatory Behavior Paper

Regulatory Behavior Paper

Samantha Craig

PSY/340

Manon Doll-McGhee

6/13/2015

What is the nervous system and how does it contribute to an individual's emotions? Is a commonly asked question by many people. According to (Webster,2015) "the system of nerves in your body that sends messages for controlling movement and feeling between the brain and the other parts of the body." It can be hard to imagine that all the body's functions and feelings can be passed through something that to most would seem small. While reading this it should answer any questions on how these messages are passed around and why? Including the emotions that can be effected by the hormones that travel in the messages and bloodstream of the nervous system.

There are many different functions that the nervous system has. A few of the basic functions would be that it receives and relays information, controls body functions and way it looks for and responds to changes whether it be internal or external. When the nervous system is strong the more apparent the sensory stimuli become. These stimuli can be a wide range of things such as a change in the environment, emotions and memory. In the nervous system there are nerve cells called neurons that can carry messages all while the impulses carry an electric current or signal that are coded from the neurons. The sensory neurons will then carry these signals from the organs to the brain and the spinal cord. While the motor neurons carry the signals from the brain and spinal cord to the body's muscles. The reason these signals end and began in the brain is due the interneuron which is only found in the brain that can connect the motor and sensory neurons in one cells.

Now, that it is understood how the nervous system works it might help to understand the parts inside it and how they help and what they control. Dendrites are tree like branches that extend from the neuron and carries the impulses to the cell body. Then there are the axons which are long fibers that unlike the dendrites, carry those impulses away from the neuron. At the end of these axons there are terminals that connect with the neuron next to it. These axon fibers are coated in what is called myelin and is lipids and protein that form a type of insulation around it. If a nerve is damaged or broken the neurilemma which covers the outer side of a neuron.

The nervous system is a vast network for dozens of different types of communication. Just like all the wires in a computer and how each wire can send signals to let you know what is going on and even feel emotions. The autonomic system is what is usually associated with the ability to feel emotions. There are two branches inside the nervous system that can convey these actions. The first one is called the sympathetic branch. This branch helps speed up an individual's heart rate, or what can be known as the fight or flight reaction. The second one is parasympathetic, this helps to slow down your heart rate and signals that the person is relaxing or recovering. There are so many wide ranges of emotions that send messages to and from the brain to the rest of the body, some where it sends huge surges of energy that the individual may even feel. These surges can be emotions such as anger, fear, and frustration that can show signs of stress through the autonomic nervous system.

When the body experiences too much stress in the autonomic system it can start to be recognized as a disease known as vegetative dystony. This disease has been a cause of premature death and due to a fact that stress is a huge contributor. Symptoms of having an autonomic imbalance can include long lasting headaches, irregular heartbeats, anxiety, depression and nervousness. Everyday life can be extremely stressful and having to deal with the toxins of the surrounding environment can be hard to control at times. But a key to staying healthy is to maintain a balance with you r emotions brain and even your body. Another way to help is to stay positive on an everyday basis with the emotions of appreciation and compassion that way the depression and stress are less likely to affect your health. These few things can help contribute to bring relaxation. (Kalat, 2013)

Next, there are four different types of messengers that are chemical and are directly connected to the bloodstream one of these are called Hormones (Brown, Eisner, & Whittake, 1970) In the human body there are countless types of hormones. A few of these control development, growth, body temperature, and even sexual and mood functions and several of these hormones can change throughout the individuals lifetime. There are two major contributors that can affect the hormonal changes within the nervous system, for men it is called testosterone and for women a thing called estrogen. Testosterone if in higher levels have actually proven to show those men are more aggressive than those who don't have them. However, for women who suffer from higher levels of estrogen they are more likely to be a bit more emotional than others. Best example would be that of a pregnant woman who goes through a wide range of emotions in short amounts of time. Each one of these hormones affect the brain in various different ways. The prefrontal cortex helps the individual to express these emotions and if a hormone is not affecting it a doctor can usually figure out what is wrong. Now days there are medications that can help produce these natural hormones if the body can not make them itself.

In conclusion the nervous system is a vast part of the human body. It is wired like the inside of a computer where information can travel at fast speeds to other parts. In these wires there were messages being spread from neuron to neuron. These messages can help communicate with the five sense to contribute with the hormones that an individual feels. Emotions are based of various types of four types of hormones and the two that control fear, aggression and anxiety are testoerone and estrogen. These hormones travel in the bloodstream therefore medications can help if a problem in the body prevents it from making these natural hormones.

References

Kalat, J. W. (2013). Biological Psychology (11th ed.). Retrieved from The University of Phoenix eBook Collection database.

Brown, W. l., Eisner, T., & Whittake, R. H. (1970, January). Transspecific Chemical Messengers . Allomones and Kairomones, 20(1).