sympathetic nervous system
1
4.9
- noun
- /ˌsɪmpəˈθɛtɪk ˈnɜrvəs ˈsɪstəm/
- Specialized
:
sistema nervioso simpático
- During a dangerous moment, the sympathetic nervous system increases your heart rate and heightens your awareness.
- sympathetic nervous system activation
- sympathetic nervous system activity
But stress triggers our sympathetic nervous system, and that's our fight or flight.
- But stress triggers our sympathetic nervous system, and that's our fight or flight.
- You know, it's like telling my my sympathetic nervous system that I'm safe.
- You have parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems, OK, that are triggered within the body.
- When we are in the cold, all mammals, we turn on the sympathetic nervous system.
- Like, are you in a, in a, you know, sort of sympathetic nervous system state of, of high alert when that's going on?
- So some kind of drop in your sympathetic nervous system.
- So it's maintained by a balance between your sympathetic nervous system.
Examples
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In this setting, hyperactivation of the sympathetic nervous system may have deleterious effects on the heart.
Academic text (2016) -
The sympathetic nervous system activates when you encounter a stressful situation, preparing your body for action.
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Now remember this, think of sympathetic nervous system as the system that gets activated for fight or flight.
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The sympathetic nervous system can lead to chronic pain.
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You have low sympathetic nervous system activity and are insulin dominant.
Blog text (14) -
The high levels of angiotensin II also activate the sympathetic nervous system.
Academic text (2011) -
And this is because in these types of situations, your sympathetic nervous system, your flight fight or freeze response is chronically activated.
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But stress triggers our sympathetic nervous system, and that's our fight or flight.
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When under stress, males' sympathetic nervous system is engaged and the "fight or flight" response is activated by the release of adrenaline.
Academic text (2011) -
The sympathetic nervous system plays a crucial role in your body's reaction to emergencies by triggering the fight or flight response.
Surface Forms
Morphology
sympathetic + nervous + system
The phrase is compositional: it denotes a 'system' of the 'nervous' apparatus that is 'sympathetic' in the physiological sense, so a learner who knows the constituents can infer it refers to a part of the nervous system involved in arousal/action. One caveat is that 'sympathetic' also has a common meaning ('kind, compassionate') which could cause confusion, but if the learner knows the physiological sense, the overall meaning is directly derivable.
Etymology
Sympathetic nervous system pictures a quick helper inside the body: sympathetic here means 'acting together' and the nervous system is the body's control network. When you are scared or need energy, this helper speeds your heart and sends blood to your muscles to get you ready to run or fight, so the name links to the part that causes the 'fight-or-flight' response.