Overview
You're in the middle of a meeting at work, but your mind keeps drifting to the parent-teacher conference you have tonight ... and the car you have to pick up at the shop on the way home ... and how you wish you hadn't skipped lunch because the rumbling in your stomach is driving you nuts. Then, suddenly, you're back in the moment, hoping nobody noticed your brief "departure." It may seem as if your brain is always on the go. And it is. The brain not only controls what you think and feel, how you learn and remember, and the way you move and talk, but also many things you're less aware of — such as the beating of your heart, the digestion of your food, and yes, even the amount of stress you feel. If you think of the brain as a central computer that controls all bodily functions, then the nervous system is like a network that relays messages back and forth from the brain to different parts of the body. It does this via the spinal cord, which runs from the brain down through the back and contains threadlike nerves that branch out to every organ and body part.