Question

8.33 pts

Question 2
You are at the zoo and watching a lion chew on some meat. You begin to taunt the lion since he is behind the glass and cannot get to you. He
charges the glass and breaks through. Your adrenaline kicks in and you take off running. What system is repressed during your escape?

Answer 1

The parasympathetic nervous system is repressed during your escape.

Explanation:

In the exposed example, during your escape from the lion, the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) system are responsible for your body response. They send signals and release adrenaline and noradrenaline to increase your heart biting frequency, and blood pressure, stimulating your respiration and dilating your respiratory tracts.

Once you manage to escape from the lion, and the threat factor is over, the body gets back to normality. At this point, the parasympathetic nervous system is activated. Your body activities become normal again. Your arterial pressure, respiratory frequency, and cardiac frequency get reduced to their normal conditions. You are relaxed and at rest.

When the parasympathetic system is activated, the sympathetic nervous system is not, as they perform in opposite ways.