What is the difference between Autonomic nervous system, Central nervous system Somatic nervous system?

1 Answer
Mar 4, 2016

These are different divisions of the nervous system.

Explanation:

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Here is a chart showing different divisions of the nervous system.
The nervous system is divided into two main parts, anatomically : The central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system.

The first is the central nervous system (CNS), which is the control center for the whole system. It consists of the brain and spinal cord. All body sensations and changes in our external environment are relayed from receptors and sense organs to the CNS to be interpreted.

The peripheral nervous system (PNS) is subdivided into several smaller units. This system consists of all the nerves that connect the brain and spinal cord with sensory receptors, muscles, and glands.

The PNS can be divided into two subcategories: the sensory system, which consists of afferent or sensory neurons that convey information from receptors in the periphery of the body to the brain and spinal cord, and the motor system, which consists of efferent or motor neurons that convey information from the brain and spinal cord to muscles and glands.

The motor system can be further subdivided into two subcategories. The first is the somatic nervous system , which conducts impulses from the brain and spinal cord to skeletal muscle, thereby causing us to respond or react to changes in our external environment.

The second is the autonomic nervous system (ANS), which conducts impulses from the brain and spinal cord to smooth muscle tissue (like the smooth muscles of the intestine that push food through the digestive tract), to cardiac muscle tissue of the heart, and to glands (like the endocrine glands). The ANS is considered to be involuntary.

The organs affected by this system receive nerve fibers from two divisions of the ANS: the sympathetic division, which stimulates or speeds up activity and the parasympathetic division, which stimulates or speeds up the body’s vegetative activities such as digestion, urination, and defecation and restores or slows down other activities.