Every living organism, regardless of its species, performs certain functions of life, spends a definite amount of time on earth then dies. Be it small organisms like bacteria, viruses, germs, or complex organisms like human beings, dolphins, or whales, even plants follow this rule of nature.
The complexity of the functioning of the organisms depends on their genes and also evolution. Nowadays, there is a lot of research going on in the field of neurology and psychology, telling us more about how the brain of a human being works.
It is no coincidence that humans are the most intelligent species known on this planet. This fact is supported by theories of evolution as studied in biology. Every organism dies and evolves into better offspring, ones that have better survival tendencies and adaptation techniques to survive on the planet.
If you ask the doctors and professionals from the best neurology hospitals in Bangalore, they would often tell you details about how the mind functions and why is it that enlightened beings often call it a miracle to incarnate as human beings.
The human mind is capable of doing big things, constructive sometimes and those that benefit all humanity but sometimes, it is also capable of inflicting pain and damage beyond expectations in a manner that is unparalleled in terms of destruction.
THE STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONING OF THE MIND
Our brain is a complex network of cells called neurons. These cells develop till early teenage life and after that, stop growing. It is said that the intelligence, creativity, and overall functioning of someone’s mind depends upon the neural networks in the brain.
These cells are connected to the other neurons and form nerves and parts of the spinal cord that are responsible for reaction mechanisms to external stimuli. Even though they stop developing after a certain age, new connections between them continue to form for as long as a person lives.
The doctors from the best neurology hospitals in Bangalore, Delhi, and other cities now know that there are more than a hundred billion neurons in the human mind. This is even more than the total number of stars in our galaxy.
The brain, nerves, neurons, and the spinal cord together form the nervous system of the body, responsible for managing and controlling our vital organs and their functions. Apart from that, the nervous system also allows one to be able to receive and understand information from the outside world through the sense organs and also respond to external conditions in a manner that is required.
For example, if a person, regardless of their age touches a hot utensil, their immediate reaction is to move their hand far away from the hot surface. In reality, our brain and the spinal cord give an immediate command to the body part in contact with the hot surface and our body performs the same action.
This is how our nervous system also keeps us safe from the dangers of external conditions like extreme heat, extreme cold, pain, bright light, etc. The main job of the nervous system is to keep us safe and ensure our survival.
OTHER COMPLEX FUNCTIONS OF THE MIND
Apart from controlling the body functions, the mind is also responsible to generate thoughts, emotions, store memories, and associate emotions with them over time.
This is one of the most intelligent machines found in nature, one that is capable of being creative and also allows us to act on these ideas to create a world we see around us.
Certain parts of the brain are also in control of producing hormones like adrenaline, testosterone, estrogen, and progesterone, depending upon the gender and the phase of life we are in.
The brain stores memories and ideas that can be remembered by us in a future time. Emotional intelligence is something that distinguishes us from other organisms and allows us to be sensitive and empathetic to the other organisms and nature itself.
Certain parts of the brain can be studied today and research also tells us about the different levels of consciousness we experience. There is the conscious, subconscious, and unconscious working of the mind. All these levels relate to different experiences and functions like dreaming, hallucinating, etc.
Controlling our thoughts is an impossible thing to achieve because the human mind generates millions of thoughts in a day.
But it is important to learn to be able to navigate through the unnecessary thoughts and not relate emotional memories to each one of them as then people develop psychological issues and need therapy or other treatments to ensure healthy functioning of the mind.