The brain

“Brainstorm” “Brain wave” “He’s so brainy” “Use your brain” …But what is a brain? How does it work? How much do you know about your brain?

Your brain is amazing! The brain inside your head is working every minute of the day, even when you’re asleep!

You use your brain to eat breakfast, choose your clothes for the day, walk to school, remember to feed the dog, hold your breath under water, kick goals, be a friend and do a quiz.

What’s inside your brain?

Neurons

Our bodies are made up of millions of tiny cells that are way too small to see. The cells in our brain are called neurons. Neurons are special because they can send messages to other cells in the brain and the rest of the body.

Without those neurons connecting all the parts of our brain, we couldn’t do a single thing.

Lobes

The brain has different parts called lobes. Each lobe is in charge of different tasks.

Let’s look at them:

There are other parts of the brain that are not lobes, such as the limbic region and the hippocampus:

Deep in the centre of our brain, the limbic region is in charge when we feel upset or excited, calm or worried.

It makes us want to do things and NOT want to!

It’s also important for our memory and it is where we find the hippocampus. The hippocampus is only small but it is very important. It gets its name from the Latin word for seahorse, because it is shaped a bit like a seahorse (sort of…)

Your hippocampus helps you remember the things you notice and feel as you live your life each day. It takes in and looks after your fresh memories. Those memories then get stored all around the brain so that, if we need to, we can remember them for longer. Thanks to your hippocampus, you might be able to remember what you’ve just read here about the brain!

Lobes working together

So, now you know that inside the brain we have lobes and other brain parts which are in charge of different tasks.

But wait, there’s one more thing! Each lobe needs every other lobe to do its job.

Let’s take just one example. Every day you get dressed without even thinking about it. But inside your head, your loyal lobes are busily working together to help you:

• know when it’s time to get dressed
• decide to stop your computer game and get dressed now
• find the wardrobe
• know what you are looking at when you peer inside your wardrobe
• sense if it’s a hot or cold day and whether to choose warm or cool clothes
• remember why you are standing in front of the wardrobe!!
• choose your school uniform on a week day or other clothes on the weekend
• get everything you need from the shelves and drawers
• remember to put on your underwear first
• guide your arms and legs into sleeves and pants without falling over
• zip zips, button buttons and tie up shoelaces

Phew!!!!

Every minute of every day, our neurons are busy carrying messages between the different parts of the brain. All the parts of our brain are working together so we can do the things we do and be the person we are. Awesome!