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The Gas Pedal and the Brake: Part I… Jason continues his blog using the analogy of the car… (08/19/2010)
In the previous blog I discussed how the human body is comprised of many systems and how they all interact. Today I will discuss the autonomic nervous system.
The human nervous system can be divided into several connected systems that function together. The human nervous system has two major divisions, the voluntary and the autonomic systems. The voluntary system is concerned mainly with movement and sensation. The autonomic system controls functions over which we have less conscious control or that happen automatically. These include the digestion of food, blood pressure, heart rate, and respiration. There are three parts to the autonomic nervous system: the sympathetic system, the parasympathetic system and the enteric system. For our purposes today, I will discuss the sympathetic, otherwise known as the “fight or flight” system, and the parasympathetic or “rest and repair” system and their interactions.
The sympathetic and parasympathetic systems have opposite functions. When we are under stress, the sympathetic system raises our heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration so that we can either run away from (flight) or “fight” whatever is threatening us. Generally, when the threat is dealt with, the parasympathetic system restores and/or slows down our heart rate, blood pressure and respiration.
Relatively few people today have a strong, balanced autonomic system. Most people favor their sympathetic branch. These people tend to be more outgoing, have strong type-A personalities, are aggressive, and have faster metabolisms. They tend to be more prone to anxiety, irritability, and nervousness. Parasympathetic individuals tend to be more laid back, have type-B personalities, are lethargic, fatigued, have slower metabolisms, and often times are prone to depression.
As a way to understand how the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems function together I will compare how automotive engineers have provided the same components in the car that are needed to prevent the car from running out of gas or overheating, and compare that with how the body is regulated with the help of the autonomic nervous system. My next blog will consider a common example of how the autonomic nervous system is regulated using the analogy of the car.
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