That’s Hard To Swallow
Posted by ailz on March 12, 2003
Q: reflex action of human and how it protect the body?
A: Reflexes are very important in protecting our bodies. Just imagine touching something really hot on the stove. Before you're even aware that it is hot, your hand jerks away from the stove. The message that says, "THIS IS HOT" goes only to your spinal cord, not all the way to your brain, and quickly back to your hand to pull it away - this is a reflexive action. Now imagine what it would be like if you didn't have reflexes. If you touched a hot object on the stove, nerves would send a message beyond the spinal chord to your brain telling you "THIS IS HOT" and you would feel the pain and know it was hot, then decide to pull your hand away. Granted, this doesn't really take much time to occur, but it is longer than a reflexive response. Another good example of reflexes is our eyes' ability to blink reflexively when something approches our face - you don't have to think about it, you just blink automatically. So...the bottom line here is that reflexes accomplish various protective actions much more quickly than would otherwise be possible. I hope this helps.
John Wiessinger ( March 14, 2003)