Do you know about this important part of your brain? All about the Parietal Lobe!

Hello! How are you? Today we are going to talk about a very important and very useful part of our brain. Maybe you have not heard this name before. It is the Parietal Lobe . Although the name is a bit scientific, the service it provides to our daily lives is endless. It is like a silent servant inside our body. So, let's see what this Parietal Lobe is, what it does, and how to keep it healthy.

What is this Parietal Lobe?

Simply put, your parietal lobe is one of the five main parts of your brain. Like an important player on a cricket team, this part helps other parts of the brain work together and cooperate. This cooperation is what helps us successfully perform many of our daily tasks. It is also where we understand and interpret sensations from anywhere in our body, such as touch.

What happens in the Parietal Lobe? How is this important to our bodies?

Now, look at how much work our friend the Parietal Lobe does. It has several duties assigned to it.

How we perceive ourselves (Self-perception)

Your parietal lobe is like a processing center for everything you feel through touch . It's responsible for:

• Temperature
• Pressure
• Vibration
• Pain

There is another thing that belongs to this “how we feel ourselves”. That is, even with your eyes closed, you can feel where your limbs are. In medicine, we call this ``Proprioception'' . Let's look at a small example? You close your eyes and bring your hand to your face. Even with your eyes closed, you can feel exactly where your hand is, right? And you can stop it without hitting your face. The Parietal Lobe helps with that.

How to put everything together and understand (Sensory integration)

Other parts of our brain take in sensory information (e.g., vision, hearing), process it, and then send it to the Parietal Lobe. So, what the Parietal Lobe does is to combine all of this with the above-mentioned self-sensory information and process it in a way that we can understand. Then, it sends that information to other parts of the brain to decide whether we should respond to that sensation or not.

Things we learn (Learned movements)

Whenever you plan and perform complex, subtle movements, the parietal lobe helps you learn those things. A good example of this is writing . That's why writing becomes easier as we get used to it. This also applies to tasks like doing math by hand.

How to understand where we are and what is around us (Location awareness)

The parietal lobe plays a big role in helping you understand where things are around you. For example, knowing whether something is to your left or right depends on this area.

It also helps you understand the “big picture.” When you see several related objects in the same context, it helps you understand the whole thing. Imagine you see a stove, a counter, a sink, and a fridge. And you know it’s a kitchen, right? That’s it.

Where is this parietal lobe located? How big is it?

Your parietal lobe is located at the top of your head, behind the crown of your skull.

This is so big, the parietal lobe makes up about 19% of your brain's cerebral cortex. "Cortex" is the Latin word for the bark of a tree. The cortex is the wrinkled outer surface of the brain. It is usually about 2.5 millimeters thick.

What is the Parietal Lobe made of?

Your parietal lobe is made up of the same specialized cell types found throughout the brain. There are two main types of cells:

• Neurons: These are the cells in your brain and nerves that can send and relay signals to other neurons. These signals travel inside neurons as electrical signals. Neurons convert these electrical signals into chemical signals, and chemical signals into electrical signals. Chemical signals are used to communicate from one neuron to another.
• Glial cells: These are the support cells of your nervous system. They don't manage signals. Instead, they maintain and help neurons.

What diseases affect the parietal lobe?

Many diseases and conditions can affect your brain, many of which can affect the parietal lobe. Some of the most common include:

• Alzheimer's disease
• Lewy body dementia
• Brain lesions (damage caused by disease or surgery/medical procedures)
• Brain tumors (including cancer)
• Concussions and other traumatic brain injuries (these are somewhat rare due to the location of the parietal lobe)
• Gerstmann syndrome
• Balint syndrome
• Headaches and migraines
• Infections (e.g., brainThose that cause inflammation (Encephalitis)
• Mental health conditions (possible hallucinations, e.g. schizophrenia )
• Seizures and epilepsy
• Stroke and Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA)

What are the symptoms of a problem with the parietal lobe?

Many symptoms can occur with conditions affecting the parietal lobe. However, some symptoms are more common and usually fall into specific categories.

Forgetting what has been learned, not being able to do it

These skills require coordination between your eyes and hands. Examples:

• Inability to write `(Agraphia)` (This is a severe case of a condition called `(Dysgraphia)`)
• Inability to do arithmetic `(Acalculia)` (This is a severe case of a condition called `(Dyscalculia)`)
• Inability to read (Alexia) (This is a severe form of Dyslexia)
• Confusing left and right
• Difficulty recognizing and distinguishing fingers (Finger agnosia)

Problems with touch

Symptoms can affect your sense of touch in different ways. That is, in the things you feel or in the way your brain processes that information. Symptoms related to touch can include:

• Disturbances in the ability to sense temperature, pressure, vibration, or pain.
• Difficulty identifying objects by touch (you can identify them in other ways, for example by looking at them). For example, if someone gave you a metal key while you were blindfolded, you would have to move it around in your hand and feel it. This may be difficult, if not impossible, for people with damage to the parietal lobe.

Problems understanding the environment

Your parietal lobe helps you understand where you are in relation to the world around you. A key part of it is how you know left and right, how you use your eyes to locate yourself and your body parts, and how you process sensory information coming from both sides of your body. Symptoms may include:

• Confusing the left and right sides.
• Loss of control when shifting your gaze, not related to the eye muscles (`Ocular motor apraxia`).
• Difficulty understanding how objects fit into a background. For example, you may not realize that you are looking at a forest even though you can see individual trees (`Simultagnosia`).
• Mistakes when looking at something and trying to reach for it (`Optic ataxia`).

What tests are done to check the health of the parietal lobe?

Doctors have many ways to check the health of your parietal lobe. These include diagnostic tests, lab tests, and imaging scans. Here are a few examples:

• Blood tests (these can detect immune system problems, toxins, especially metals like copper, mercury, and lead)
• CT scan
• Cerebrospinal fluid tests
• EEG test `(Electroencephalogram – EEG)`
• E.M.G. (Nerve conduction test) `(Electromyogram – nerve conduction test)`
• Evoked potentials – sensory tests
• MRI scan `(MRI)`
• Neurological examination
• Neuropsychological assessment
• Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scan

What are the treatments for diseases related to the parietal lobe?

There are many treatments available for conditions affecting the parietal lobe, and they can vary greatly depending on the problem. Your doctor is best able to tell you what treatments are available to you and what they recommend.

What can we do to keep our parietal lobe healthy?

There are many things you can do to keep your entire brain, including your parietal lobe, healthy. Some brain diseases can be prevented. While some can't be prevented, you can reduce your risk of developing them. Here are some things you can do to maintain your brain health:

• Exercise your brain. Your brain is like any other part of your body. To keep it healthy, you need to exercise it. Keeping your brain busy is a key way to slow down the decline in mental abilities that comes with age, especially memory loss.
• Eat a balanced diet. What you eat affects the health of your circulatory system. So your diet can affect how your brain works (a stroke is a condition that occurs when a disease of the circulatory system affects the brain). Too much or too little of certain vitamins can also affect the brain.
• Find ways to maintain a healthy weight and be physically active. Your weight and activity level can help prevent or delay diseases that affect the brain, especially circulatory problems like high blood pressure. Your family doctor can advise you on what a healthy weight range is and how to maintain it. Physical activity has direct benefits for brain health. It also helps produce chemicals called neurotransmitters, which are used for good blood circulation and brain communication.
• Wear protective equipment when necessary.Concussions and traumatic brain injuries can disrupt the function of your parietal lobe. Safety gear like helmets and seat belts are essential to prevent serious injuries.
• Manage your chronic conditions. Many diseases that affect the brain get worse over time. However, treating these diseases can sometimes stop them or delay their worsening. Examples of these diseases include type 2 diabetes and epilepsy.

Remember, we are doing all this to protect our most precious asset, our brain. Because a healthy brain is the key to a healthy life.

Finally, things to remember

Your parietal lobe is a very important part of your brain that helps you understand the world around you, your sense of touch, and your body's movements and position. Although it's at the top of your brain, it may not always be at the top of your head or something you think about all the time.

But, taking care of the health of your entire brain – including the parietal lobe – can make a big difference in your life. Then you can better understand the world around you, and prioritize the parts of your life that you value most. So, think about your brain a little bit, and make a small effort to keep it healthy starting today. Have a great day!