The Autonomic Nervous System

Our nervous system is composed of two divisions; the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system (reference). The peripheral nervous system has two divisions; the somatic nervous system and the autonomic nervous system. The somatic nervous system is the division of the nervous system that interacts with the external part of our world. The autonomic nervous system observes and manages the body’s internal experience.

There are three important aspects of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system:

1. Sympathetic nerves stimulate, organize, and mobilize energy resources in threatening situations & parasympathetic nerves act to conserve energy

2. Each autonomic target organ (an organ that is innervated with nerves from the ANS) has a nerve branch from both sympathetic and parasympathetic branches and the activity of the organ is controlled by the activity of each system

3. Sympathetic changes are representative of psychological arousal and parasympathetic changes are associated to psychological relaxation (This is a general rule and there are some exceptions)

References

1. Pinel, J. (2014). Biopsychology, 9th edition. Pearson

2. van der Kolk, B. A. (2014). The body keeps the score: Brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma. Viking.