MEDICAL PHYSIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -The sympathetic system controls “fight-or-flight” responses. In other words, this system prepares the body for strenuous physical activity. The events that we would expect to occur within the body to allow this to happen do, in fact, occur. The parasympathetic system regulates “rest and digest” functions.

Detailed explanation-2: -The parasympathetic nervous system is often referred to as the “resting and digesting” system.

Detailed explanation-3: -(For this reason the sympathetic system is sometimes referred to as the thoracolumbar outflow.) The axons of these neurons exit the spinal cord in the ventral roots and then synapse on either sympathetic ganglion cells or specialized cells in the adrenal gland called chromaffin cells.

Detailed explanation-4: -In the heart (beta-1, beta-2), sympathetic activation causes an increased heart rate, the force of contraction, and rate of conduction, allowing for increased cardiac output to supply the body with oxygenated blood.