1. You have been to an ‘eat all you can’ buffet and have consumed large amounts of food. After returning home, you recline on the couch to watch television. Which division of the nervous system will be handling your body’s after-dinner activities? List several organs involved, the major nerve supply to each organ, and the effects of the nervous system on their functions.
Which division of the nervous system will be handling your body’s after-dinner activities?
- The Parasympathetic Nervous System (rest-and-digest)
2. Your friend is driving home from work, listening to her favorite music, when suddenly a bicycle came out of nowhere. She manages to swerve avoiding hitting the bicycle. She continued to drive home but she noticed that her heart is beating fast, she had goose bumps, and her heads were sweaty. How would you explain these effects?
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The sudden presence of a bicycle that could create accidents and harm a person caused stress for my friend. In accordance with this, the Sympathetic Nervous System contributes to the "fight or flight" response when the body is under stress. The body focuses its energy on combating or fleeing a life-threatening situation. The Sympathetic Nervous System instructs the adrenal glands to produce adrenalin (epinephrine) and cortisol. In response to the emergency, these hormones and the direct actions of autonomic nerves lead the heart to beat faster, the respiratory rate to increase, the blood vessels in the arms and legs to widen, the digestive process to alter, and blood glucose levels (sugar energy) to rise.