Dr. James Surrell, Journal columnist

Let us today briefly review the seven senses of the human body. These seven senses are known as noted in the following. 1. Sight, 2. Smell, 3. Taste, 4. Hearing, 5. Touch, 6. Movement and Balance, and 7. Body Position.

Sight – Sight, also referred to as our vision, is the ability of the eyes to focus and detect images of visible light and to then generate electrical nerve impulses for varying colors, hues, and brightness. These electrical nerve impulses are then sent to our brain. Our brain then processes these impulses to allow us to recognize and interpret these visual stimuli through comparison with experiences made earlier in life.

Smell – Smell, also referred to as our olfactory system, is our system to detect scent from various odor molecules in the air. Our olfactory system begins in our nose which has hundreds of olfactory receptors that detect the various smell of many items.  Odor molecules possess a variety of features and they stimulate our specific receptors more or less strongly.  This combination of excitement is interpreted by the brain to perceive these many different “smells”.

Taste – Taste refers to the capability to detect the taste of substances such as food, certain minerals, and various other food or drink items we put into our mouth. The sense of taste may also come from a combination of taste and smell perception. Humans receive tastes through sensory organs called taste buds concentrated on the upper surface of the tongue. Our most commonly sensed basic tastes are sweet, bitter, sour, and salty.

Hearing – Hearing is the ability to perceive multiple various sounds that pass into our ear canal leading to our eardrum located in our middle ear. this information is then passed to our brain. As with sight, our hearing then relies on how the brain interprets, recognizes and differentiates these sound stimuli.

Touch – Touch is a perception resulting from activation of neural receptors, generally in the skin including hair follicles and a variety of pressure receptors respond to variations in pressure. Our ability to feel what we touch is from our diverse sensory system that is spread through all major parts of our body. At its simplest, the system works when activity in a sensory receptor is triggered by a specific stimulus, such as heat or cold. This touch stimulus is then passes to an area in the brain uniquely attributed to that area on the body and this allows the processed stimulus to be felt at the correct location.

Movement and Balance – Movement and balance, also referred to as the vestibular system, explains the perception of our body in relation to gravity, movement and balance. The vestibular system measures acceleration, body movements and our head position.  Examples of the vestibular system in practice include knowing that you are moving when you are in an elevator, knowing whether you are lying down or sitting up, and being able to walk and move around while maintaining our balance.

Body Position – Our body position is the sense of the relative position of neighboring parts of the body and strength of effort being employed in our various body movements. This sense is very important as it lets us know exactly where our body parts are in our current position, and to plan our next movement.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Dr. Jim Surrell is the author of the best-selling SOS (Stop Only Sugar) Diet book and his new Joke Book, entitled “Laughter Is Good Medicine.” Dr. Jim’s website is sosdietbook.com.