EXPLORE SOMETHING FUNKY • YOUR BODY IS AMAZING
Your Body Is Amazing
Your body is working every second—even when you are not thinking about it. Explore ten discoveries about your brain, nerves, senses, movement, sleep, and the systems that help you learn and live.
Discovery 1 • Your Nervous System Helps Run Almost Everything You Do
Your nervous system helps with thinking, reading, remembering, moving, balancing, feeling, sleeping, breathing, heartbeat, digestion, and much more. Some jobs you choose to do. Others happen automatically.
THINK ABOUT IT: What is one thing your body is doing right now without you telling it to?
Source: NIH / NICHD — What Does the Nervous System Do? Learn from NIH →
Discovery 2 • Nerve Cells Send Electrical Messages
Special cells called neurons help your brain and body communicate. A neuron can send an electrical signal along a long extension called an axon. Networks of neurons work together so different parts of your nervous system can share information.
TRY IT: Wiggle one finger. Your brain, nerves, and muscles just worked together to make that tiny movement happen.
Source: NIH / NICHD — Nervous System Facts. Learn from NIH →
Discovery 3 • Your Senses Are Messengers
Sensory neurons detect things such as light, sound, smell, taste, pressure, and heat. They send information toward your brain, where that information can be interpreted.
THINK ABOUT IT: Close your eyes for ten seconds. Which other senses suddenly seem more important?
Source: NIH / NICHD — Nervous System Facts. Learn from NIH →
Discovery 4 • Your Brain and Muscles Are a Team
Motor neurons carry messages from your brain toward muscles to help create movement. Catching a ball, writing your name, blinking, and riding a bike all depend on parts of your nervous system and body working together.
TRY IT: Slowly touch your thumb to each fingertip. It feels simple, but a lot of coordination is happening.
Source: NIH / NICHD — Nervous System Facts. Learn from NIH →
Discovery 5 • Your Brain Stays Active While You Sleep
Sleep is not the same as your brain simply switching off. Your brain moves through different stages of sleep, including REM and non-REM sleep, several times during the night.
THINK ABOUT IT: Why might your brain need different kinds of sleep instead of one single sleep mode?
Source: NIH / NICHD — Sleep. Learn from NIH →
Discovery 6 • Sleep Helps Learning and Memory
Scientists have found that sleep is important for learning and forming memories. Sleep also supports many other body systems, so rest is part of how your body prepares for another day of thinking and doing.
FUNKY TIP: Sleep is not wasted time. Your body is doing important work.
Source: NIH / NICHD — Sleep. Learn from NIH →
Discovery 7 • Kids Need More Sleep Than Many People Guess
Experts recommend that children ages 6–12 generally get 9–12 hours of sleep in a 24-hour period. Sleep needs change as people get older.
TRY IT: Without sharing anything private, estimate how many hours there are between a typical bedtime and wake-up time. How does that compare with the recommendation?
Source: CDC — About Sleep. Learn from CDC →
Discovery 8 • Deep Sleep Is Repair Time
During deep non-REM sleep, your heartbeat and breathing slow, muscles relax, and your body carries out processes connected with tissue growth, repair, and restoring energy.
THINK ABOUT IT: How does knowing this change the way you think about rest after a busy day?
Source: NIH / NICHD — What Happens During Sleep? Learn from NIH →
Discovery 9 • Your Body Has Its Own Daily Clock
Your brain helps regulate a roughly 24-hour cycle called a circadian rhythm. Light reaching your eyes helps send signals that affect this body clock and your sleep-wake cycle.
THINK ABOUT IT: Why might bright light at different times of day affect how awake or sleepy someone feels?
Source: NIH / NICHD — Sleep. Learn from NIH →
Discovery 10 • Your Body Is a System of Systems
Your nervous system is connected with movement, senses, breathing, heartbeat, temperature, digestion, sleep, learning, memory, and more. The amazing part is not just what one body part can do—it is how so many parts communicate and work together.
YOUR CHALLENGE: Choose one ordinary action—reading a sentence, taking a step, catching a ball, eating lunch, or falling asleep. List as many body systems or processes as you think might be involved. Then investigate one you are curious about.
Source: NIH / NICHD — What Does the Nervous System Do? Learn from NIH →
Keep exploring: Want to build a skill? Visit the Student Toolbox. Need an outside learning site? Visit Resource Websites.