2023-06-16 02:00:00
In the article by Nienke Beintema (10/6) about control of bladder function and the sometimes embarrassing loss of this control, the opinion of urologist Bertil Blok is quoted. This seems to suggest that a thinking bladder center in the brain stem is in charge of bladder activity. This ignores the essential role of the cerebrum. These are connected to the bladder center via both inhibitory and activating nerve fibers. In many disorders of the brain (tumor, stroke, cerebral atrophy), but also in stress and anxiety, an imbalance can occur between activation and inhibition from the cerebrum, possibly resulting in urinary incontinence.
The intriguing phenomenon described in the article that – when approaching and seeing your house – you suddenly seem to have less control (“at the very end, your bladder is no longer in control”) then this is not due to the brain stem (which does not think ) but by an update of visual information from the cerebrum to the brain stem.
Amsterdam
A version of this article also appeared in
the newspaper of June 16, 2023.
#Visual #update #NRC