The somatic nervous system (SNS), also known as the voluntary nervous system, it is one of the two divisions of the peripheral nervous system, which is a division of the nervous system.
It is made up of nerves that connect to skeletal muscles, sensory organs, and the skin. It is responsible for controlling voluntary muscle movements through the use of skeletal muscles, and for processing sensory information that comes from external stimuli, such as touch, sight, and hearing. In addition, it controls the process of reflex arcs.
The somatic nervous system is made up of afferent or sensory nerves (they send information to the brain and spinal cord), and efferent or motor nerves (they send information from the brain)..
Afferent nerves transmit sensations from the five senses to the brain, while efferent nerves send orders for voluntary movement from the central nervous system to the body, such as drinking from a cup of tea or getting up from a chair to walk..
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The nervous system is divided into two parts: the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system. The first is made up of the brain and the spinal cord, which are contained, respectively, within the skull and the spinal cord..
The central nervous system is like the command center from where multiple orders constantly arise and where a lot of information from the body environment and other internal conditions arrives..
The second part of the nervous system, the peripheral nervous system, represents a kind of wiring that connects all parts of the body with the central nervous system, that is, with the spinal cord and the brain, receiving and sending information in both directions..
Like the nervous system, the peripheral nervous system is divided into two:
The word soma It is the Greek word used to say "body". So, the somatic nervous system is the part of the peripheral nervous system that is responsible for controlling the movements of our body through skeletal muscles..
When the central nervous system sends orders to the skeletal muscles, which are those muscles that are associated with the bones of our skeleton, it does so through the nerve fibers that make up the somatic nervous system..
Therefore, we can say that this system is responsible for all the conscious functions that we perform, such as moving our hands and legs, moving from one place to another, lifting objects, etc..
The somatic nervous system is very important for vertebrate animals, since not only voluntary movements depend on it, but also the processing of sensory information from external stimuli to the body (hearing, touch, sight, smell, etc. .).
In addition, this part of the nervous system is also responsible for the control of involuntary reflexes (reflex arc) in response to certain stimuli..
Among these reflections we can mention the dilation of the pupils of the eyes when they are stimulated with the light of a flashlight, the involuntary bending of the knees when they receive a blow in a certain place, among others..
If you are in physical education class and you have to start running, you may step on a sharp stone. In this case, you feel the pain and the information is sent to your brain, which in turn sends information to your muscles so that they raise their leg..
Due to the somatic nervous system, you can control movements and react, changing or modifying the route or performing other movements such as jumping or lifting a leg.
The somatic nervous system, as well as the rest of the nervous system of animals, is made up of neurons and performs its functions through the messages it can transmit through them..
Neurons are very peculiar cells; consist of a body and a long body extension.
The body of a neuron, better known as the soma, is surrounded by projections called dendrites, while the corporal prolongation is called axon. The axon is a long, thin extension of the soma, specially adapted for the conduction of nerve impulses. The axons of various neurons form what is known as a nerve fiber.
The neuronal bodies of most of the neurons of the nervous system reside in the central nervous system, that is, in the brain or spinal cord and from there they project their axons towards the different organs and regions of the body that are in charge..
In the somatic nervous system, two types of neurons are distinguished, classified according to the type of information they communicate and the direction in which they conduct that information. These are known as sensory neurons and motor neurons, and therefore the nerve fibers formed by these neurons are called sensory fibers and motor fibers..
The afferent and efferent nerve fibers (sensory and motor) of the somatic nervous system are distributed throughout the body of humans and vertebrate animals, connecting directly with different tissues.
According to the region where these fibers are found, nervous system scholars agree that the nerves of the somatic nervous system are divided into two parts:
The somatic nervous system, like any other division of the nervous system, can be affected in many ways, generally resulting in the onset of diseases..
These diseases usually have to do with the damage of the sensory or motor nerve fibers that make up this system, which can occur due to trauma, wounds, infections by microorganisms, degenerative or hereditary diseases, among others..
Likewise, disorders of the somatic nervous system are not only due to direct damage to your nerves, but also to failures in the central nervous system, in the sensory organs or the muscles of the body..
Some of the more common inherited diseases that affect the somatic nervous system are:
Some of the acquired diseases, that is, that are not suffered by inheritance, are:
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