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The brain: the control center of the body

You wanted to know

"How does the brain tell you what you want to do?," a young patron asked from the Wauconda Area Library's Boredom Busters youth program.

The brain begins to develop very early, starting in the third week of pregnancy, and continues the processes to create cell material throughout a lifetime.

At birth, the human brain has tens of billions of neurons. By age 6, the brain is 90 percent developed. Numbers increase to more than 100 billion neurons into adulthood. Neurons are the brain's messengers, transporting signals to trigger functions within the brain and throughout the entire body.

"The brain is the control center of the body," said Dr. Jennifer Rubin, neurologist and associate professor of pediatrics at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago.

"The largest part of the brain, called the cerebral cortex, performs voluntary actions that you control, like speaking or picking up an object. The back part of the brain, called the brain stem, controls automatic or involuntary actions, like your eyes moving together or your heart beating."

Neurons send and receive messages using electrical and chemical signals. Generally, they have a plantlike design - the cell has a single stemlike appendage called an axon that sends messages and branches called dendrites that receive messages.

Synapses are neuron cell connectors that aid in message transmission. The body has more than 100 trillion synapses to facilitate neuron-to-neuron communication.

There are neurons designed for specific functions, Rubin explained.

"Sensory neurons send information from the body about the senses, like taste, temperature and vibration, toward the brain. Motor neurons send information away from the brain to the muscles of the body in order to make them move. Interneurons are the connections between the motor and sensory neurons in the brain."

Motor neurons have a protective coating called a myelin sheath. Damage from illness or injury can slow and interrupt movement. Rubin's work involves providing care for patients with multiple sclerosis, an illness that impacts the myelin sheath.

"I take care of children and teenagers with a brain disease called multiple sclerosis (MS). I am studying the causes of MS in children," she said.

Experts have tried to decode the process by which the brain directs body and mind function since the beginning of time. Today's vast specialist teams include neurologists and neurobiologists, as well as scientists with expertise in behavioral, cognitive, computational, clinical and developmental neuroscience.

As the master control center for all functions of the body, the brain continually processes neurons so you can think, eat, sleep, run, play, dream and live a productive life. It is important to give your brain the very best attention and care so it can perform at its peak at all times.

Rubin's advice will help you to develop a lifetime of productive brain function.

"In order to keep the brain healthy, kids need to eat healthy foods and exercise both their body and mind. It is also very important to protect the brain by always wearing a helmet when riding a bike or scooter," she said.

Check it out

The Wauconda Area Library suggests these titles on the brain:

• "Welcome to Your Child's Brain: How the Mind Grows From Conception to College" by Sandra Aamodt

• "The Astounding Nervous System: How Does My Brain Work?" by John Burstein

• "The Human Brain Book" by Rita Carter

• "Phineas Gage: A Gruesome But True Story About Brain Science" by John Fleischman

• "My Brain" by Kathy Furgang

• "What Goes On In My Head?" by Robert Winston

• DVD: "Jim Henson's Sid the Science Kid: Now That's Using Your Brain" PBS

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