Sympathetic Nervous System Research Paper

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Pages: 3

The Nervous System/ Stress Responses
The nervous system has many aspects to it; first there is the central nervous system which contains the spinal cord, brain, and the autonomic and somatic nervous systems. The autonomic system is made up of the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system. The sympathetic nervous system is what causes the fight or flight response in us as we are faced with stressful events which prepares the body to fight off things we perceive as a threat. The sympathetic nervous system is basically causes all the changes to occur in our bodies systems, from the release of the stress hormones to our raised heart rate. This is why chronic stress can be such a problem for us, the constant stress responses
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It does this so during stressful moments the parts of our body which are needed to deal with the stress would be supplied by enough oxygenated blood to remain functional until the stressful situation is over. It shoots up sugar and fat levels. Sugars and fats provides our body with energy. During stressful situations, we need more energy to be able to deal with it. The sympathetic nervous system can also enhances mental activity, slow down blood clotting time, and dilates our pupils among several other helpful coping mechanisms. When we are stressed the sympathetic nervous system calls upon the adrenal gland to put out additional noradrenaline into the blood stream along with a stronger neurotransmitter substance, adrenaline. The adrenal glands are located on top of each kidney. Not like the small amounts of noradrenaline, adrenal emissions affect our entire body, not just one organ. They're bigger, stronger, and longer …show more content…
This also tends to raise our level of physiological stimulation. Adreno-cortico-trophic hormone is released by your pituitary gland into our systems, where it travels to our adrenal gland. it Then it stimulates the cells forming the outer layers of the adrenal gland, the adrenal cortex, to release a number of hormones, including cortisol, into our blood stream. One of cortisol's many roles is to heighten the sensitivity of some organs such as our heart and blood vessels to the effects of noradrenaline and adrenaline. Our cardiovascular system becomes alerted. When we experience severe, sporadic stress, our cortisol-sensitized heart and blood vessels require fewer noradrenaline and adrenaline to climb to extreme levels of activity and then stay there for longer lengths of time. This shows us that people who suffer one panic attack are likely to have more in the following