The sympathetic nervous system and its functions

The autonomic nervous system, which alsocalled vegetative, has several units or parts. One of them is the sympathetic nervous system. Division into departments is based on functional and morphological features. Another subspecies is the parasympathetic nervous system.

In the life of a living organism, the nervous systemperforms a wide range of functions, which makes its significance very high. The system itself is complex and has several departments and subspecies, each of which takes on a part of the functions. The most interesting thing is that for the first time such a concept as the sympathetic nervous system appeared in 1732. Initially, the term was used to refer to the entire autonomic nervous system. But as the knowledge of scientists accumulated, they realized that there is a much more extensive layer here, so this concept was assigned only to one of the subspecies.

If we consider specific values, thenit turns out that the sympathetic nervous system performs quite interesting functions for the body - it is responsible for the consumption of resources, as well as for the mobilization of forces in emergency situations. If such a need arises, then the sympathetic system increases the expenditure of energy so that the body can continue to function normally and fulfill its tasks. When we talk about hidden opportunities and resources, we mean just that. On how the system will cope with this, the condition of the organism will depend.

However, all this is a strong stress fororganism, therefore for a long time in this mode it can not function. Here the parasympathetic system comes into play, the tasks of which are the restoration of resources and their accumulation, so that later a person can perform the same tasks, and his capabilities are not limited. The sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system provides the normal vital activity of the human body under different conditions. They work inextricably and constantly complement each other.

Anatomical device

The sympathetic nervous system is representedrather complex and branched structure. The central part is located in the spinal cord, and the periphery connects various nerve nodes and endings in the body. Actually, the endings of the sympathetic nerves are connected in numerous innervated tissues to the plexus.

The periphery of the system is formed bya variety of sensitive efferent neurons, from which the special shoots depart. They are removed from the spinal cord and are collected mainly in the pre-invertebrate and near-vertebral nodes.

Functions of the sympathetic system

As already mentioned, the sympathetic systemfully activated in stressful situations. In some sources, it is called the reactive sympathetic nervous system, because it must give a certain reaction of the body to the situation formed from the outside.

At this point in the adrenal gland beginsto develop adrenaline, which serves as the main substance, allowing a person to respond better and faster to stressful situations. However, a similar situation can arise and with physical exertion, when due to an adrenaline ejection a person begins to cope better with it. Adrenaline secretion enhances the action of the sympathetic system, which begins to "provide" resources for increased energy consumption, because adrenaline only stimulates various organs and feelings, but is not in fact the resource itself.

Influence on the body is high enough, becauseafter that, the person experiences fatigue, weakness and so on, depending on how long the adrenaline effect lasted and how long the sympathetic system spent resources to support the body's work at the same level.