What are nerves?

Think of the last time you needed a bandage. Perhaps you scraped your knee or cut your finger. How did you first know you needed help? Chances are, you felt the pain of a scratch, bump or bruise, which let you know that something wasn’t quite right. If it weren’t for your nerves, you wouldn’t have had this important warning!

Nerves are bundles of cells called neurons, and they connect your brain and spinal cord to the rest of your body. In fact, nerves branch out from the spinal cord to many different parts of your body! Nerves gather information about the world around you, then carry that information to your brain. Your brain makes sense of the information and sends messages back through your nerves so your body parts know what to do in response! 

Let’s take a closer look at how this works: Imagine that you’re walking through your kitchen and you step on a small piece of ice that has fallen onto the floor. Your foot sends information to your brain, which identifies the sensation as cold. Your brain sends that message back to your foot through nerves, telling your foot to quickly lift so the cold will stop! It’s amazing to think that all of this message sending and receiving takes place in less than one second!