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.
My body's after-dinner activities will be managed by the parasympathetic nervous system, which regulates bodily functions when a person is at rest. The organs involved in the phenomenon are the gallbladder, intestines, and stomach. The M receptors are also triggered by the stomach and intestines, which results in an increase in gastric secretions for digestion as well as an increase in sphincter motility and relaxation.
The contraction required to release bile, however, is managed by the M3 receptors that the gallbladder stimulates. The vagus nerve serves as the primary nerve supply for each of the organs mentioned. In order to promote digestion while at rest, the nervous system (PNSN) also increases saliva production and release. Peristalsis, or movement of the stomach and intestines, promotes both food digestion and fat digestion by releasing bile at the same time. As a result, after consuming a large amount of food, this phenomenon forces us to rest and digest.
References:
NCBI - WWW Error Blocked Diagnostic. (n.d.). Retrieved October 6, 2022, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK553141/#:%7E:text=In%20the%20stomach%20and%20intestines,stimulates%20contraction%20to%20release%20bile
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?
As a result of the sympathetic nervous system being activated, these effects are triggered. In response to risky or stressful conditions, the sympathetic nervous system plays a well-known role. The sympathetic nervous system kicks in in these circumstances to quicken the heartbeat, boost blood flow to parts of the body that need more oxygen, and carry out other functions to help us flee from danger.
References:
Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS): What It Is & Function. (n.d.). Cleveland Clinic. Retrieved October 6, 2022, from https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/body/23262-sympathetic-nervous-system-sns-fight-or-flight