Discuss the human brain and the interaction that it has with the human body.

1. What is the brain and how does it
control the body?
By Hugh Jenkins SCI - 102

2. 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

3. 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.

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. What should you know about your brain?

10. What should you know about your brain?

11. How do signals transfer information from the
brain to the body parts?
“The brain sends messages
through the spinal cord and
nerves of the peripheral
nervous 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 messages
to and from the brain.

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. 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

15. 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.

16. Apps that provides exercises to help your brain
maintain its optimum health and functioning.
New, fun and varied activities as well as
regular 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 the
brain can no longer function and support
the body (Alzheimer’s Australia, 2014).

17. 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.

18. References
Brain 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

19. References
Non-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-
134890