Hi, I'm Cathy, with Level Up RN. This is the first video in our nervous system playlist,
and I will be following along with our Level Up RN medical-surgical nursing flashcard deck. The
purpose of this deck and of this playlist is to help you understand the most important concepts
and facts you need to know to be successful in nursing school on your nursing school exams,
on the NCLEX, and in nursing practice. If you have our flashcard deck, be sure to pay special
attention to the bold red text because those are going to be the most important points for you
to know. In addition, with this video playlist, I'm going to start giving you guys little quizzes
at the end of each of my videos to test your understanding of some of the key facts I will be
covering in the videos. So definitely stay till the end of each of the videos so you can test
your knowledge. I will be starting this playlist by going over some anatomy and physiology related
to the nervous system. So just a high-level A&P review. The reason I'm going to do this is that
if you can understand how a body system is supposed to work, you can think more critically
and better understand what signs and symptoms to expect if that body system malfunctions. So
I always find having a good grasp on the A&P really helps me to understand the disorders
of a particular body system better. Key functions of the nervous system include
control over mobility, sensation, cognition, as well as many involuntary processes. The
two components of the nervous system include the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous
system. Within the central nervous system, we have the brain and spinal cord. Within the peripheral
nervous system, we have 12 cranial nerves, 31 pairs of spinal nerves, and the autonomic nervous
system. And we will talk in more detail about the autonomic nervous system in another video.
The basic unit of the nervous system is the neuron. And the neuron is a cell that transmits
impulses which are like messages within the nervous system. So each neuron produces a
neurotransmitter, which is a chemical that will either enhance or inhibit the impulse. So we have
sensory neurons, which are afferent neurons. So these neurons control sensation, and they transmit
messages from the peripheral nervous system to the central nervous system. Then, we have
motor neurons, which are efferent neurons. These control mobility, and they transmit messages from
the central nervous system to the peripheral nervous system. So, for example, if I touch
something hot, right, and I have that sensation of heat, a message will go through a sensory neuron
from my peripheral nervous system to my brain in the central nervous system. My brain will
process that message and then probably send a very quick message through an efferent neuron,
right, a motor neuron, for me to move my hand. So that's kind of the difference between afferent and
efferent. And we have a Cool Chicken hint here on the card to help you remember. So afferent
approaches the CNS, and efferent exits the CNS. All right. So let's take a look at an illustration
of a neuron so I can point out the different parts. Here's a beautiful picture of a neuron
from our medical-surgical nursing flashcard deck. So over here on the left, we have dendrites,
which receive information from other neurons and transmit that message to the soma, which is the
body of the neuron. That impulse then travels down the axon. And you'll notice surrounding the axon,
we have the myelin sheath, which is a fatty substance that provides insulation and allows for
faster transmission of that impulse.Now, later on in this video playlist, we're going to talk about
multiple sclerosis, or MS, which is an autoimmune disorder that causes destruction of this myelin
sheath, and therefore causes a number of issues that we will go into detail about. The impulse
then will travel all the way down here to the axon terminal, and at that point, neurotransmitters are
released into the synapse, where they will bind with dendrites of their neighboring neuron.
All right. Are you guys ready for your first quiz of the nervous system? I have three questions for
you. First question. What is the basic unit of the nervous system? The answer is the neuron. Question
number two. The autonomic nervous system is part of the central nervous system. True or false?
The answer is false. Question number three.
What do you call the fatty substance that surrounds and insulates the axon in a neuron?
The answer is the myelin sheath. Okay. That's it for this quiz. I hope you found that helpful.
In my next video, we will be talking about the brain. So definitely stay tuned for that.
I invite you to subscribe to our channel and share a link with your classmates and
friends in nursing school. If you found value in this video, be sure and hit the like button,
and leave a comment and let us know what you found particularly helpful.