Region · Volume I
The Brainstem
The quiet keeper of everything you don't think about.
The brainstem is the ancient wiring at the base of the skull. It handles breathing, heartbeat, and swallowing — the jobs so essential that they must never stop, even when you sleep.
What it does
- Regulating heart rate and breathing
- Controlling sleep and wakefulness
- Relaying signals between brain and body
- Reflexes like coughing and swallowing
Inside the brainstem
A side cut through the brainstem, face pointing left. The reticular formation is a web of neurons running through all three parts.
Go deeper
Structures inside the brainstem
In the real world
Why does this matter?
Declaring someone brain dead
During brain death, there is no movement in any part of the brain except for the brainstem (or at least some parts of it) as parts in the brainstem like the Medulla Oblongata control the basic mechanisms that keep us alive (ex: heartbeat, breathing, etc.)
Sleep science
Brainstem nuclei switch you between dreaming and dreamless sleep. Understanding them is guiding new, non-addictive sleep medications.
SIDS prevention
Research into brainstem breathing circuits in infants is behind every 'back to sleep' safety recommendation for babies.