Your brain is what makes you, you. It helps you learn, think, and remember, creates your personality, and also determines if you are happy or sad. And that’s in addition to controlling breathing, heart rate, and other biological functions that are critical for survival. What could be more important, then, than taking care of your brain?
At NINDS, our mission is to seek fundamental knowledge about the brain and nervous system and to use that knowledge to reduce the burden of neurological disease. What makes cells in one part of the brain more likely to get damaged than cells in other areas? When brain cells are talking to one another, can we listen in on the conversation? How can we treat and prevent neurological disorders? At NINDS, we look at all aspects of brain science, from the molecular building blocks that form brain cells and their connections to the effectiveness of a treatment for people living with a particular neurological disease.
On our website, NINDS offers information on hundreds of neurological disorders from A to Z as well as primers on the brain itself in Brain Basics. The Migraine Trainer app helps teens identify and track migraine triggers. Our public health campaigns, Know Stroke and Mind Your Risks®, provide resources designed to reduce the impact of stroke and dementia on our communities. And for budding scientists of all ages, we offer educational resources to help you understand the brain and how it works.