Nervous System

The nervous system coordinates sensation, movement, emotion, behavior, and communication between all organs. It includes the brain, spinal cord, peripheral nerves, autonomic nervous system, and the enteric “second brain.” Through electrical and chemical signaling, it regulates stress responses, rest-and-digest functions, thought, memory, perception, and every muscular action in the body.
Relevant Herbal Actions:
Herbal Allies:
  • Transmits and interprets all sensory information
  • Controls skeletal, cardiac, and smooth muscle movement
  • Regulates organs and glands through ANS
  • Generates emotions and behavioral responses
  • Coordinates reflexes and survival responses
  • Maintains homeostasis through neuroendocrine regulation
  • Supports cognition, memory, focus, and attention
  • Integrates stress responses and recovery states
  • Central Nervous System (CNS): brain, brainstem, spinal cord
  • Peripheral Nervous System (PNS): sensory & motor nerves
  • Autonomic Nervous System (ANS)
    • Sympathetic: fight-or-flight
    • Parasympathetic: rest-and-digest
    • Regulated by the hypothalamus
  • Enteric Nervous System: surrounds and manages digestion (“second brain”)
  • Spinal Cord Anatomy:
    • Continuous with medulla oblongata
    • Ends at L1 vertebra
    • Cauda equina nerve bundle
    • White matter tracts + gray matter nerve cell bodies
  • Neuron Structure:
    • Soma, nucleus
    • Dendrites
    • Axon & axon hillock
    • Myelin sheath (fat-based)
    • Schwann cells
    • Nodes of Ranvier
    • Synapse (axon-to-dendrite junction)
  • Neurotransmitters:
    • Acetylcholine
    • Norepinephrine / Epinephrine
    • Dopamine
    • Serotonin
    • GABA
    • Glutamate
    • Endorphins
    • Substance P