The Bases of Human Behaviour — Psychology STD 11 Humanities — Question

The autonomic nervous system helps in dealing with emergency situations with the help of its two divisions: Sympathetic division and Parasympathetic division.

• Sympathetic division: Sympathetic deals with emergencies when the action must be quick and powerful, such as in situations of fight or flight. During this period, the digestion stops, blood flows from internal organs to the muscles and breathing rate, oxygen supply, etc. increases.
• Parasympathetic division: Parasympathetic dicision is mainly concerned with the conservation of energy. It monitors the routine functions of the internal system of the body. When the emergency is over the sympathetic activation calms down the individual to a normal condition. As a result, all body functions like breathing rate, oxygen supply, etc. return to their normal level.