As a continuation to the above:
The vedas have told us the structure of the human being in the BMI format. We are made up of
The BODY:
- Perceiver of objects from the environment in various formats through various senses : and information is sent to the brain
- Action taker, movement producer : movement is initiated and controlled by the Brain, decision to act is taken. by the mind and intellect
The MIND: with its
- feelings
- emotions: which originate and are regulated in the brain
The entire control of the BMI construct resides in the brain.
The INTELLECT:
Thinking of thoughts: which occur in the brain through a complex network.
Integration of perceptions, data processing, saving of memories, decision making
The brain receives information of sensations from the entire body. Through the sensations, we make sense of our environment.
Let us see a little in detail further
The BODY:
(A) Sensations
There are:
- simple sensations like touch, pain and temperature,
- complex sensations like vibrations, position of joints, balance, sensation of body movement
- special sensations like smell, vision, taste, hearing and gravity.
The sensation and process of balance is very complex and is taken care of by many parts of the brain with extensive, intensive and continuous feedback and feed-forward mechanisms
(B) Movements : in humans, movements range from simplest to most complex actions. just lifting a hand to complex yogic postures, gymnastics, dancing and so on.
The brain sends commands for movement to the entire body and governs the movements occurring there. The initiation, the smoothness, the precision and the adequacy of the movement are all governed by the brain through complex mechanisms.
So some problems or diseases of the brain can give rise to problems of sensations and ability to perform effective movements. Central pain syndromes, sensory epilepsy are few examples of sensory problems. Epilepsy, Parkinsons disease, paralysis after brain stroke are examples of Motor function problems.
Mind and Intellect
Brain and mind: they are like the hardware and software of the smart device. The brain is the hardware and the mind is the software.
The limbic system is the specific part of the brain where the emotions and feelings have their softwares uploaded. Emotions are found in other animals as well. Some diseases of the brain such as limbic encephalitis, affect the emotional brain specifically, changing the behaviour of the person. Why did nature create emotions in the process of evolution is an interesting thought. Broadly, emotions are supposed to be sensors for what is right or wrong around us. Usually pleasant emotions arise when things are good, and unpleasant emotions arise when things are wrong for us.
The intellect is distributed across many areas of the brain, with the main area being the frontal lobes, which is the area just behind our foreheads. Dementia is the disease of the brain that starts with affecting memory and intellect / cognition.
When we mix emotions with thought we get a more long lasting state of mind called FEELINGS.
FEELINGS are unique to human beings and are more complex than emotions. We still have to uncover many things about feelings.
You have to take care of the hardware to take care of the software. And you have to take care of the software separately and be careful what apps you upload in your brain. Our skills, learnings and habits are our apps.
In the coming blogs/ videos we will be looking into some common problems of the brain.
About the author:
- DR. POORNIMA GAURI,
- NEUROLOGIST, ARTIST AND COACH,
- Consultant Neurologist, Poornima Gauri Neuro Center, pgnc.in
- Based in Pune, MD, NICHE Advocacy Foundation, nichefoundation.in
- Visiting Consultant Neurologist, Sancheti Hospital, Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital, Joshi Hospital, Ratna Memorial Hospital, PUNE; Viveka Hospitals, Nagpur
link for YouTube video on the blog: https://youtu.be/944w4rxwykM