This Is Your Nervous System | Part 2
What happens when your nervous systems gets sick, how to take good care of it, and how to prevent for the future.
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Hello! Welcome To Your Nervous System Part 2
In part 1, we learned what the nervous system is, what it looks like and how it works under normal conditions. But what happens when it fails to work normally? And how can you take good care of it and prevent its deterioration? That’s what we will focus on today.
When a disease or accident of some kind strikes any part of the nervous system, we could suffer all sorts of issues, affecting the vast range of functions performed by it.
Let’s have a closer look.
What Happens When The Nervous System Gets Sick?
As we previously learned, the nervous system is formed by three parts: the brain, the spinal cord, and the nerves. During our lifetime we generally live a healthy nervous life, but it’s not uncommon to have certain issues appear, affecting this vital system of the human body.
Cases as mild as a headache, the occasional tingling, mild muscle spasms or tremors, back pain, or sciatica all relate to minor problems of the nervous system. More serious issues such as seizures, strokes, tumours, paralysis, dementia, or consequences from a serious fall or crash can also happen and affect a person’s quality of life.
All these health problems can be genetic, lifestyle-related, or due to external factors. Sometimes it’s easy to navigate them, and some other times it could take longer periods of time before being able to even make a diagnosis, let alone to recover.
Let’s see what happens when there’s illness or injuries in each part of the nervous system. Let’s start with the brain.
Brain Illness and Injuries
Being the one organ holding the most important structures controlling endless functions in the body, having brain health issues will most definitely impact us one way or another.
Let’s take migraines for example. A migraine, by definition, is a type of headache (there’s many types of headaches) that is recurrent, throbbing and pulsing on one side of the head, commonly accompanied by nausea, vomiting, blurred vision, and light/sound sensitivity. When you have a proper migraine, the one thing you want is to get yourself into a dark room, with a bag of ice on your head, absolute silence and the ability to just sleep. Your brain feels bruised and you just need to disappear from the world to recover silently and in darkness.
I remember during my uni years, I suffered migraines twice or thrice a week. It was debilitating, and the best solution was having a doctor family member inject me with Dexamethasone each time. It always helped, but after a while it became unhealthy and unsustainable. Took me years to understand where these migraines were coming from. In short: they were a really bad mix of chronic dehydration, stress, constipation, bad sleep, and irregular meal schedules. Sounds kinda normal, right? Well, it wasn’t and I learned the hard way.
Did you know that certain foods can trigger a migraine? Foods such as peanuts or nuts in general, chocolate, wine and alcoholic drinks in general, cheese, cold meats, and highly processed foods. Other factors such as hormonal changes during menstrual cycles are also highly linked to the appearance of migraines in women.
All this made me highly aware of how hydration is vital to the human body. Adequate hydration will most likely prevent a large percentage of mild health issues that we suffer on a common basis, like headaches, constipation, sinus, and urinary symptoms. Do you drink water on regular basis? Here’s a quick water-drinking guide I wrote a while back.
In fact, the most common causes of mild issues with the nervous system will most likely be due to lack of sleep, lack of proper hydration or nutrition, stress and anxiety, muscle tension in the neck, head and/or shoulders, and minor head traumas.
There are also more serious problems that could happen in the brain, usually related to circulatory issues, like a stroke, a brain hemorrhage, or the slow cognitive deterioration that precedes conditions like dementia. You might be wondering how these all relate. Well, it has to do with the blood vessel system in the brain. Let me show you.
The brain has an incredible vascular system (arteries, veins and lymph pathways) that keeps the brain properly oxygenated and nourished with nutrients and more. These vessels are the body’s pipe system, so to speak. Arteries take the oxygenated blood from the heart to the body, while veins collect deoxygenated blood from the body taking it back to the lungs to oxygenate again, then the heart to be pumped out again. This process is key. Without proper blood and oxygen flow, organs and tissues can get easily deteriorated, loosing abilities and functions.
As the most important arteries leave the heart, a tiny strong branch makes a turn towards the neck and into the brain. Inside the brain, a beautiful network of blood vessels form, surrounding it all inside and out. There’s a particular vascular piece located right at the bottom of the brain, where it sits on the skull, called The Willis Circle (image below). It’s one of the most important arterial network in the brain, branching and carrying the oxygenated blood to all vital brain nuclei where cranial nerves and more are born. The Willis Circle looks a bit like a funny human stick drawing, like this:
The most common health problems in the brain happen because of damage or injuries in the Willis Circle, being aneurysms (dilated pouches on an artery’s wall that bursts provoking internal bleeding) the most frequent one. In fact, according to Medical News Today, “an estimated 85% of all intracranial aneurysms occur here.” This is a serious condition that would cost a person’s life depending on the severity of the situation and the immediacy of medical attention received.
Strokes (when an artery gets a blocked blood flow, impeding oxygen to reach a certain area causing it to collapse) can happen here too. Interestingly, the way in which the blood flows through the Willis Circle in fact works as a protective mechanism against strokes. Here’s the reason:
“The structure and function of the circle of Willis may protect against stroke in people who have a complete circle of Willis. The complete circle allows blood to go from one side of the brain to the other, even when blockages or thinning vessels occur. The change in pressure from a blockage or thinning vessel could cause blood to flow backward through the circle of Willis and still reach similar areas of the brain or other important structures. This process is called collateral circulation, and it may protect a person from major events or a lack of oxygen in the brain due to impaired blood flow.” ~ Medical News Today
Isn’t it insane how one same structure can suffer a major health issue and still work as a protector against other? See why I’m always mind-blown by the human body?
Ok, let’s continue.
In the brain we can also find tumours, both good and bad. Yes, there are tumours that can be benign and not cancerous. In either case, tumours are considered serious. Depending on many factors, they could generate inflammation in neighbouring areas, affecting other brain functions, or compressing the brain against the skull. Thankfully, neurosurgery has evolved to levels where performing brain surgery no longer implies the same high risks like they used to.
Seizures can happen in the brain too, either as a one-time event or as a recurring event, in which case we call it Epilepsy. A seizure is a surge of abnormal electrical activity in your brain. Remember I told you that the nervous system is the electric grid of the body? Well, this is the perfect example of how the electricity flow can be affected and how it shows up in the body. There are many different types of seizures and they don’t all look the same. The most common symptoms are loss of consciousness and a flow of involuntary movements, making a person shake strongly without awareness. But they can be as mild as twitch too.
In the words of the World Health Organisation:
“Seizure episodes are a result of excessive electrical discharges in a group of brain cells. Different parts of the brain can be the site of such discharges. Seizures can vary from the briefest lapses of attention or muscle jerks to severe and prolonged convulsions. Seizures can also vary in frequency, from less than one per year to several per day.”
They also explain:
“One seizure does not signify epilepsy (up to 10% of people worldwide have one seizure during their lifetime). Epilepsy is defined as having two or more unprovoked seizures. Globally, an estimated 5 million people are diagnosed with epilepsy each year.”
There can also be unbalances in the brain’s chemical messengers or neurotransmitters, affecting diverse abilities, both physically and mentally. Low dopamine levels is linked to Parkinson’s disease. Low serotonin can lead to anxiety, depression and sleep problems. Low GABA is associated with schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorders and ADHD. Acetylcholine is particularly low in patients with Alzheimer’s disease.
There are many factors involved in each of these unique diseases, from genetics to lifestyle. Hence why it matters immensely to observe, practice self-care, improve healthy routines, and consult with your healthcare providers for information and prevention. (If you want to learn more about neurotransmitter disorders, you can read here.)
Spinal Cord Illness and Injuries
Now, let’s move on towards the Spinal Cord. Let me remind you where the Spinal Cord is:
Just like with the brain, there are a vast range of health problems that can happen in the spinal cord—the most serious one being paralysis of one or several parts of the body from the neck down.
The spinal cord can suffer from tumours, infections, bleeding, degenerative diseases, autoimmune diseases, trauma, stenosis (tightening of the canal where the spinal cord runs, making it strangle, affecting its functions), vertebral fractures, herniated discs, just to mention a few.
When the spinal cord is affected, symptoms can show up in various ways, such as weakness in the limbs, back pain or pain that can run from the lower back down to the leg (like sciatica), loss of urinary or pooping control, changes or loss in sensation, and uncontrolled muscle spasms. This does not mean however that having these symptoms is an instant sign of spinal cord injury, but it’s important when symptoms persist, that a healthcare professional checks you out to rule out major causes of serious spinal cord conditions. For more info on this topic, you can read here.
The worst spinal cord injury cases come from complex road accidents or extreme sports where people can suffer severe fractures in the vertebrae, causing an injury to the spinal cord. If injured, movement and/or sensations could be affected or lost. When we lose the ability to make voluntary movements, we call it paralysis. If it affects both arms and legs, it’s called quadriplegia. If it affects only the legs, it's called paraplegia.
Paralysis can also happen due to strokes or degenerative disorders in the nervous system, like a stroke or Multiple Sclerosis. An exception to this, is a well-known face paralysis you might've heard of (or even suffered from), called Bell’s Palsy. It’s a ‘temporary facial paralysis that affects about 15 to 40 people out of every 100,000 each year, or about 1 in 60 people at some point in their life, making it a relatively common condition.’ Thankfully, most people (around 80-85%) will recover from it without complications.
In far more serious cases, when a spinal cord injury happens at the upper neck level, central breathing and cardiac functions could be compromised. This happens because even though the heart and lungs live in your chest inside the rib cage, there are two minuscule breathing and cardiac control nuclei right in the spinal cord at the highest neck level (C2). Whenever there's a severe neck injury, the breathing and cardiac controls could be affected, posing a major threat on life.
Peripheral Nerve Illness and Injuries
Now, let’s continue outside the spinal cord and onto the nerves network of the body. (Our grand Peripheral Nervous System, remember?)
Nerves in the peripheral network transport information that can be motor or sensitive in nature. This means that injuries to these nerves can affect motor functions and sensitive functions of your body. Peripheral nerves can be injured in a number of ways, such as trauma, compression, disease, or inflammation.
For example, if a motor nerve is injured, you could feel weakness, numbness, twitching or paralysis somewhere in the body. If a sensory nerve gets injured, you could notice tingling, burning, pain (or loss of sensations) in the affected area. There’s also autonomic nerves which control all involuntary functions, like bowel movements, skin glands or sphincter contraction/relaxation. If these autonomic nerves suffer some damage, you could experience gastrointestinal symptoms, excessive sweating, or involuntary peeing or pooping.
Nerve injuries are difficult to recover from, but not impossible.
We know nowadays that nerves have the ability to slowly recover after damage has occurred. The great advances in physiotherapy, rehabilitation, and other courses of therapy like acupuncture, orthotics, massage, and surgery, offer great possibilities to improve nerve injuries these days. Not to mention the emotional load of such injuries. Thankfully, modern openness about emotions and their connection to the physical body, bring about another level of healing in people affected by such illnesses.
Some inspiring examples are the incredibly resilient human beings with spinal cord injuries who become Paralympian athletes. Having spinal cord injuries as an athlete puts great pressure on the body, not only due to muscle overwork but also from other altered functions due to their injury’s nature. The recovery that para athletes have to go through is undoubtedly more challenging than athletes without spinal cord injuries.
In this interview by the Washington Post, paralympian Oksana Masters share:
“When you think about Olympians, there are ways they can recover entirely in their sport where they’re not using their arms over and over,” she said. “The hardest part for Paralympic athletes is the day in and day out of life and not pushing yourself in between.
Sleep is part of the basic foundation for health in any athlete, but for disabled athletes, especially those with visual impairments or chronic pain, “there can be big challenges with sleep… Some para athletes never fully recover, becoming more susceptible to repeated injuries or chronic issues.”
Things so normal to most of us, like sweating, can become a real challenge when it comes to spinal cord injuries:
“Sweat and thermal responses in individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) are impaired depending on lesion characteristics. This is particularly problematic for athletes and may ultimately lead to reduced performance.” ~ MDPI
This is just an example to give you some perspective on the massive range of functions that can be affected when spinal cord injury happens. I personally feel huge respect towards people who despite all odds, choose to adapt, recover and improve themselves after such life-changing medical events.
Which brings me to the last part of today’s learning: Prevention.
How To Take Good Care Of The Nervous System And Prevent For The Future?
A percentage of nervous system health issues will have a genetic component, but many other issues will be related to external and lifestyle factors. The latter is exactly where we can put hands at work and do our bit to prevent future ailments and deterioration as possible. This is precisely what I’m teaching through this series, Basics Matter.
Now, because the nervous system is involved in every single function of the body, it becomes vital to take care of everything we eat, think, drink, do, consume, whether that is food, content, emotions, thoughts, you name it.
Everything you do on a daily basis impacts the way your nervous system performs. Bad night sleep? Get ready for an unfocused day. You ate too much last night? Get ready for a sluggish day. You exercised three days in a row and didn’t hydrate much? Get ready for a day of muscle cramps, thirst, and tiredness. You see my point, right?
So, to take good care of your nervous system, we need to make sure that five main assets for the human body are nicely covered, and these are:
Sleep
Hydration
Nutrition
Movement
Emotional Health
Let’s talk about each one of them.
Sleep
During sleep time, the body recovers, regenerates, detoxes, and cleanses itself from waste produced during the day. It is during sleep hours that your muscles relax, your brain rests, and your awareness of external stimuli decreases. Sleep is synonym of recovery time.
As we will learn further ahead, the body works in 24-hour cycles based on the light and darkness we receive each day. This is called the Circadian Rhythm. It’s based on biological, cellular, and chemical reactions inside your body that respond to nature (sunlight). In this cycle, hormones and substances in charge of your body’s functioning fluctuate accordingly. At night, the body gets ready for sleep, putting all main systems to rest while other systems do the cleansing work.
Sleep is vital for good cellular health, for recovery, for being alert and focused on any average day, for emotional balance, for lymphatic and digestive health, and more.
Sleep requires a certain discipline and routine, allowing the body to prepare each time towards a restful recovery night. I always tell my patients that the brain is like a toddler: it needs routines, organisation, rules, a bigger adult to lead, proper rest, proper nutrition, and some fun too. It will occasionally throw tantrums but it’s all part of what being a brain means. It’s a really good metaphor to understand how your nervous system works and what it needs!
Here are my best suggestions to help you improve your sleep quality:
Avoid screens one hour before bedtime.
Eat light dinners.
Give at least an hour for digestion before going to bed.
Avoid stimulants to the brain (screens, caffeine, energising drinks)
Prepare your bedroom: make it cosy, at the right temperature, and silent enough to favour good rest.
Hydration
Water, my friends! We are mostly made of water (up to 70-75%). Every single cell in our body requires this fluid to perform its functions. Without water, we easily get headaches, constipation, lowered immunity, tiredness, and mood swings. In severe cases of dehydration, a human body could suffer seizures, kidney failure, altered mental states, and even death. See how the lack of proper water intake can impact so many different things in your body?
A human body could go without food for several days and still manage to survive…but without water and liquids? Not too many days—not even a week.
Healthline explains:
“Research into how long humans can go without water is unethical, but press reports have recorded cases of people lasting 8 to 21 days without food or water. However, scientists believe the number, in most cases, is closer to about 3 days. That’s because your body needs a certain amount of water to maintain essential health functions. The human adult body is about 70% to 75% water. It’s even higher in newborns and infants.”
The amount of water each person needs differs according to metabolism, disease, medications, exercise, climate, hormones, just to mention a few factors. Again, this is a clear example of why it matters so much that you get to know your own body’s functioning.
Here are some easy tricks to help you drink more water:
Put a piece of fruit or tea bag in a jug of water to give it a mild, pleasant taste.
Every time you go pee, drink a glass of water right afterwards. (What goes out needs to be replaced.)
Get a bottle of water with time numbers on it. This will help you keep track and remember to drink water throughout the day.
Some fruits have a load of water—it counts! Fruits like cantaloupe/melon, watermelon, dragon fruit, and cucumber are great water sources. (Coffee and fizzy drinks do NOT count as fluids!)
Nutrition
A good nutrition is the baseline to a healthy body and we all know it. But how much do we really fulfill it? The rushed pace of life has made many people tend to prepared meals and more processed foods, coming at an inflammatory cost in many cases.
A lot is being said these days about inflammatory diets, which in essence, refer to eating poor quality foods or ingredients, including refined and processed foods containing high amounts of unsaturated fats and sugars. Eating in such a way poses a high risk for cardiovascular disease, type-2 diabetes and other gastrointestinal problems like colon cancer. And guess what? Without the right nutrition, the nervous system can suffer too. It won’t have access to the nutrients needed to perform all its basic functions.
We know that good foods for nervous system health include anything containing omega 3 fatty acids, vitamins B, C, E, zinc, and magnesium. Examples of this are salmon, nuts and seeds, avocado, leafy greens, fruits, vegetables, and legumes. A healthy diet can look different for everyone, but what matters is that you pay attention to your body’s needs.
A good, healthy diet doesn’t have to be expensive, just smart. 😉
Movement
There’s a saying that goes like this: “You are as young as your spine.”
Joseph Pilates, creator of Pilates, was a firm believer of this. He explained how your spine’s flexibility is most likely equivalent to your body’s age. A flexible spine is considered healthy and young regardless of your age, while a stiff spine can bring all sorts of health and mobility problems, regardless of your age. He wasn’t wrong.
I think we can all relate to times where we’ve experienced lower back pain, stiffness, or sciatica. Issues that if presented occasionally, wouldn’t translate into a spine problem, but if recurrent, then we’re most likely not moving or stretching enough.
The spine is the axis of the body, it holds the most important joints together, allowing us to move, walk, eat, comb our hair, brush our teeth, run, and so on. The spine also holds the spinal cord, where all peripheral nerves go to your entire body, including muscles and internal organs. A lot of your internal functioning is ruled by these nerves. If the spine is stiff or affected in some way, nerves might suffer too. A flexible, tall spine is indeed a sign of a good, healthy nervous system.
Just take a couple of minutes to analyse this: how much do you sit throughout the day? How many times do you stand and make active pauses from work? How does your lower back feel after every work day? How about your shoulders or neck? How much stiffness or muscle contractures are you used to? Are your eyes tired? (Yes, eyes have muscles and they need to move too.)
A simple 2-minute stretching or mild movement routine can do wonders for your entire body, especially for your spine, ensuring a healthy nervous system. Just a simple, doable and sustainable routine that fits into your daily schedule will change your physical health forever.
Here’s two easy videos I enjoy and practice regularly:
Mild movements for active pauses while at work
Mild stretching after waking up and before bedtime
In my guide ‘How to exercise when you don’t have time to exercise’ I share more about the science of movement.
Emotional Health
Last but not least, the topic that has been a long time taboo, and thankfully changing as we speak: emotions.
We’ve been raised in a society where emotions have been something to hide, to keep quiet and avoid showing.
However, turns out that emotions are a key part of our nervous system, and overall mental health. The way it works is complex, but each day we learn more about the connection between emotions and physical sensations and affections. Both brain and spinal cord transmit signals that equal emotions and impact the organs functioning. For example, it’s common to suffer anxiety and gastrointestinal problems at the same time. Feeling emotions in the physical body is as real as breathing. It’s all connected.
You know when you feel overwhelmed by someone’s story? It’s common to feel an emotional reaction on our skin, like goosebumps. Or that knot in our throat right before feeling the impending need to cry. It’s only human and I think it’s beautiful!
But we’ve been taught to contain ourselves. In this containment, generations of people learned to behave and feel in a certain way, blocking some of the most natural human emotions, such as fear, love, frustration or shame. Our brain learned that showing emotions might be unsafe, and in this process, our nervous system learned to live in a certain state of survival. Unlearning to live like this means that emotions must be expressed in some way.
We’ve come a long way. And the more we learn and open up about the need to express emotions naturally and responsibly, the more we’re seeing a progressive and positive change in society. I feel very strongly about this. I always guide my patients and readers to find ways to express what they feel, whether by talking, writing, painting, exercising, seeking therapy, or simply going out for a walk or a good chat with a friend. Anything that makes you feel safe and comfortable will allow you to open up and channel your emotions into the world in healthy ways. In this mature and balanced expression of the self, we could all understand and respect each other even better. And this, to me, is one of the most beautiful and important things in life.
Emotional health means balanced self, which means a balanced brain and balanced nerves. When we’re stressed, the body feels it and reacts to it. When we’re relaxed and calm, the body also feels it and reacts to it. See my point?
(On this note, here’s a free anti-stress course I shared back in 2023, to help you manage your stress and enjoy your life. If you prefer it, there’s now an ebook version too (paid). My goal is to help you live a better, calmer, healthier, happier life!)
In short, a healthy nervous system will help you prevent cognitive deterioration, memory loss, anxiety and depression, just to mention a few.
Here are my favourite ideas to help you express your emotions:
Journal your feelings. Keep a journal on your night table or bag. Works wonders when you lest expect it!
Call or get a coffee with your most trusted person.
Dance, sing and jump like no one’s watching. Dancing helps rewire the brain and improve cognitive functions.
Join an art class of any kind. Pottery and knitting are proven to improve mental health.
Join an activity or exercise class. Moving is highly effective in changing your body’s sensations, giving you increased clarity, focus, and perspective.
Other Factors To Consider
In many cases, taking medications for specific health issues is impossible to avoid. Always make sure you consult and talk to your doctor. Ask questions, get informed and if needed, seek for second opinions—it’s okay. Trusting your doctor is a vital part of health and good doctor/patient communication. Lastly, if you have a chronic disease that requires regular controls, please don’t skip them. Learn about your health issues and help your body keep you healthy in the long run.
The future version of you will thank you!
Let’s Summarise
Here’s what we’ve covered in this part two of the Nervous System (NS):
When the NS gets sick or injured, mild or severe consequences can happen at any level, be it the brain, the spinal cord, or the peripheral nerves.
The most common injuries of the NS are related to road accidents, falls and extreme sports. Good safety measures, protection, and regulations need to be in place at all times.
The ability of the NS to regenerate and recover is outstanding, and thanks to scientific advances and the resilient efforts of people who work towards recovery after an injury, we learn more and more every day on how this is possible.
To keep a healthy and balanced NS system from a lifestyle standpoint, we must aim to work on improving healthy habits such as sleep, movement, hydration, nutrition and emotional health.
The best foods for healthy NS are those containing omega 3, Vitamins B, C, E, D, Zinc, and Magnesium. There are no specific diets to follow but simply becoming aware of the foods that you’re eating, their quality and how they could be benefiting your mind and body’s health.
Movements that enhance flexibility throughout the body’s bones and joints, including the spine, are the best option to keep a healthy NS in the long run.
With this we wrap up everything you need to know about the majestic Nervous System!
I hope today’s info is clear, allowing you to see not just how important the Nervous System is, but also how taking good care of it will add years of balanced physical, mental, emotional, and cognitive health to your life.
As always, if you have any doubts, let’s chat in the comments.
Next time, we will dive into our second system of this series: the Cardiovascular or Circulatory System. Get ready to learn fascinating facts, science, and practical advice about the heart, the lungs, the blood and lymph vessels, and so much more.
The Circulatory System | Part 1 is ready for you!
See you again soon.
Much Love,
Dr. Mariana
Image Credits: Cat, Water Glass, Food Bowl, Pink Mat, Mental Health, Sad Brain
Please make something about non epileptic seizures. Not all seizures are epileptic and they don’t show up on a EEG
I was really looking forward to seeing what you would write about peripheral nerve illnesses since it's even in the title of that section, but then you skipped illnesses and only speak on nerve injury. I might have skipped the read had you been more accurate in your description and section header...
Reading is difficult for me, what with my peripheral nervous system illness.