The part of the peripheral nervous system that controls automatic body functions, such as sweating, digestion, heart rate and pupil dilation. It is divided into three systems:
- sympathetic nervous system (responsible for automatic action when the body is under stress, such as increase of heartbeat and blood pressure)
- parasympathetic nervous system (responsible for automatic action when the body is at rest, such as constriction of the pupil, the slowing of the heart and the dilation of the blood vessels)
- enteric nervous system (manages every aspect of digestion, from the oesophagus to the stomach, small intestine and colon)
See also Nervous System.
