More than 100,000 chemical reactions go on in your brain every second! The brain is also a radio transmitter, which sends out measurable electrical wave signals. In fact the brain continues to send out these signals for as long as 37 hours after death!


Scientific research over the last several decades has led to the revolutionary discovery of opiate-like chemicals in the body that associate with opiate specific receptors in the brain and spinal cord, including Serotonin, a hormone manufactured by your brain.

Low Serotonin levels are believed to be the reason for many cases of mild to moderate depression which can lead to symptoms like anxiety, apathy, fear, feelings of worthlessness, insomnia and fatigue. We are learning that depression is related to and a number of other health issues. Depression is the nation's most prevalent mental health problem, affecting about 15 million Americans who spend about $3 billion a year on drugs to battle it. Almost all of these medicines target either serotonin or norepinephrine, brain chemicals which are neurotransmitters.


Serotonin is found in gastrointestinal tract, platelets, and central nervous system. It regulates mood, appetite, sleep in your central nervous system and controls muscle contraction in your gut. Another important role of serotonin is as vasoconstrictor,realeased by enterochromaffin cells at the surface of your body, when platelets bind to a clot.

In recent years anti-depressants are among the most widely prescribed medications, in spite of their side-affects. The presumption is that a chemically induced sense of well bring is better than none. Withdrawal from these medications can be particularly hazardous and must be managed carefully. Scientists have long hunted another way to attack depression.

It has been discovered that some foods influence the brain's behavior, and the brain's neurotransmitters, which regulate our behavior, can be affected by what we eat. Research is showing that some foods such as bananas and turkey have proteins that help to create the chemical seratonin. So, diet may contribute to depression, especially poor eating habits and constant snacking on junk foods.

We really do not know the triggers for hunger or appetite. It seems that serotonin is involved, but where and how are currently unknown. Serotonin release is triggered by a carbohydrate load (sugar, etc.) and there are many who feel that eating Carbohydrates under stress is aimed at this serotonin release.

One theory about how depression develops centers on the regeneration of brain cells -- a process that some believe is mediated by serotonin, and ongoing throughout our lives. According to Princeton neuroscientist Barry Jacobs, PhD, depression may occur when there is a suppression of new brain cells and that stress is the most important precipitator of depression. He believes that common antidepressant medications, such as Celexa, Lexapro, Prozac, and Paxil -- designed to boost serotonin levels -- help kick off the production of new brain cells, which in turn allows the depression to lift.

Although it is widely believed that a serotonin deficiency plays a role in depression, there is no way to measure its levels in the living brain. Therefore, there have not been any studies proving that brain levels of this or any neurotransmitter are in short supply when depression or any mental illness develops. And while blood levels of serotonin are measurable -- and have been shown to be lower in people who suffer from depression -- what doctors still don't know for certain is whether or not the dip in serotonin causes the depression, or the depression causes serotonin levels to drop.





Here are some natural ways to help you boost serotonin up:

1. have a set sleep/wake schedule.

2. get some sun; At night your brain is instructed by your retina to make melatonin, your "off" switch. When you wake up, make sure you see some natural sunlight. The first light you see in the morning is your "on" switch. When your brain's switch turns on, serotonin is created, your serotonin levels rise, and you are motivated to function throughout the day.

3. Exercise regularly - Even gentle activities like yoga and walking keep your heart rate elevated and are known to help your brain keep its serotonin levels up. Try to exercise for 30 minutes at least 3 days per week.


4. Protein and carbs - Studies show that if you eat a tryptophan-rich protein at lunch, then switch to a carb/grain meal in the evening, you will be less likely to overeat and your serotonin levels will likely raise. Foods like turkey, beans, and cottage cheese are rich in tryptophan. Foods like amaranth and quinoa are high-protein carbohydrates that are good for you and your serotonin levels.

5. Take the time to enjoy your life! If you are schedule-oriented, add it to your agenda because your life will probably be much more productive if your serotonin levels are high enough to keep you calm and happy.

6. Have fun - Spend time with your favorite people. Listen to songs that make you feel like you are on top of the world. Laugh! Laughter raises your serotonin levels by releasing a bunch of the chemical at once. Make it a point to laugh at least 17 times today and see how you feel by bedtime.

Labels: biopsychiatry, CNS, depression, laugh, neurology, neurotransmitter, serotonin

Here are i provide you the list and physiology each of cranial nerves.

I. Olfactory nerve - smell

II. Optic nerve - vision

III. Oculomotor nerve - eyelid and eyeball movement

IV. Throchlear nerve - "downward and laterally"eye movement

V. Tigmoneal nerve - chewing, mouth movement, and pain

VI. Abduscens nerve - turns eye laterally

VII. Facial nerve - facial expression

VIII. Vestibulocochlear nerve - body balance, equilibrium, ear sensory information

IX. Glassopharyngeal - Taste and carotid blood pressure

X. Vagus nerve - Aortic blood pressure and digestive organs

XI. Accessory nerve - swallowing movement

XII. Hypoglossal nerve - tongue movements

Labels: biology, cranial, list, nerves, neurology

MEDULLA OBLONGATA is the lower part of brainstem. It has autonomic function. The brain stem itself relays information between the peripheral nerve and spinal cord to the upper parts of the brain.

It is rostral/anterior (towards the head) to the spinal cord and caudal/prosterior (towards bottom) to the pons (higher part of brainstem).

Cranial nerve nucleus is a collection of neurons (gray matters) in the brain stem that is associated with one or more cranial nerves. There are 12 of them. Cranial nerve nucleus location means where the cranial nerve native comes from.

In medulla oblongata, there are 7 of them arised from.

The nuclei are grouped into :

1. Vestibulocochlear Nucleus (VIII)

2. Hypoglossal nucleus (XII)

3.Dorsal motor nucleus of vagus nerve (X)

4.Nucleus ambiguous (IX, X, XI)

5. Solitary nucleus (VII, IX, X)

6. Spinal trigeminal nucleus (V)

Later, the further explanation about each of them will be provided each in one post.

Labels: biology, cranial, medulla oblongata, nerves, neurology, nuclei

What is love? Love is more than ‘a-butterfly-flutters-in-your stomach’ or ‘flying-to-the-sky’ feeling. It is more than a psychological event when your body holds a strong affection emotion. Have you ever wonder where do those feelings come from? Those ‘stomach-fluttering’ and sudden nervous are called infatuation.
What is love? What does it do with infatuation? Why does it make you do foolish admiration?

Love is complicated. It is something more than just an L-O-V-E. It is more than a feeling. It is also more than a verb. It is all about chemical reaction events on your body.

people that fall in love is cannot control their brain. When we attracted to somebody, with an irresistible of chemicals, our brain makes us to fall in love. Psychologists have shown it takes between 90 seconds and 4 minutes to decide if a person fancies someone.
There are many researches of love and its effects to our body. To make the observation easier, a Rutgers University scientist named Helen Fisher has divided the stages of love. Every stage has different hormone chemicals that produced in our brain. The stages are lust, attraction, and attachment. The hormones are serotonin, dopamine, estrogen, testosterone, oxytocin, and vasopressin. Each of them affects different part of brain too.

LUST

Lust is the first stage of love. According to howstuffworks.com, lust is also known as the desire of love. This experiment is common to be found when human reaches puberty. It plays important role in our life. According to an article by Lisa Diamond, lust and romantic love are two different things caused by different things. Lust evolved for the purpose of sexual mating, while romantic love evolved because of the need for infant/child bonding. Love relationships usually begin with a strong physical and emotional attraction that produces consciousness.
Beside works based on estrogen and testosterone (sexual hormones that cause puberty in human development), the brain also saturated with a hormone called endorphin. According to innerworkspublishing.com, endorphin creates the feeling of pleasure that accompany love infatuation. The feeling is same with a person after they eat something pleasurable like chocolate and after they have a strong exercise.

ATTRACTION

If the relationship keeps continue, the next stage is attraction or romantic passion. In this stage, both the woman and man are reeling with romance and passion until they finally find out the true side of each person. The attraction stage can be felt when the person feels the heart is making more sense than his or her brain. “Love is blind” saying is really accurate in this stage.
According to Ruth D. Kerce, attraction stage works both in emotion and physics. The physical area is when the body reacts to another’s. It affects the heartbeat systolic rate, temperature rises, palms get sweaty, stomachache, and the throat tightens. Usually, this is called the love symptoms.
The emotion affects usually when the couple starts to give interest to each other and do some shares each other about their career, family, etc. It is usually happening when the couple doesn’t do physical activities. The feeling is also usually stronger than physical.
According to youramazingbrain.com, scientists believe that attraction stage has three neurotransmitters involved. Neurotransmitter is a chemical that transmits a message between nerve cells in the brain. They are dopamine, adrenaline, and serotonin. Dopamine stimulates the rush of pleasure so it makes human become over-excited, adrenaline is increasing human heartbeat rate so it makes them sweat and asphyxiated, and serotonin which makes human can’t stop thinking about their lover in their head. In addition, norepinephrine also produced in this stage. It is similar to adrenaline which is producing bliss and excitement.

ATTACHMENT

If the couple keeps the strong feeling in attraction stage, they would move to the further stage which is called attachment. Attachment is usually when the couple chooses more serious relationship like marriage. There are two major hormones that have important roles in this stage. Oxytocin produced right on the climax of sexual orgasm during mating. It makes couples feel much closer to one another after they have had sex. It is also responsible for a mum’s breast automatically releasing milk. The important hormone is vasopressin aka anti-diuretic hormone and also produced after orgasm. It works with kidney to control thirst.
According to people.howstuffworks.com, each hormone has its own section pathways in the brain. Serotonin flows through frontal lobe in human cerebrum, limbic (storage of memories and emotions, also in cerebrum), and majority in other parts of cerebrum while the norepinephrine flows through the cerebellum (small brain) and the serotonin flows through the hypothalamus which is the control center of all biological daily activities of the body.


In conclusion…Human body is amazing. It has division of labor to manage each reaction for complicated chemical feeling, like love. It works in each particular pathways in brain marked that human body is able to manage the biological metabolism and other reaction in specific. The each part of human body has their roles in a purpose of something. Everything manages everything inside human body.

Labels: biology, chemical, love, neurology, reaction