How to Use sympathetic nervous system in a Sentence

sympathetic nervous system

noun
  • The sympathetic nervous system is part of your body's fight-or-flight response.
    — Cathy Cassata, Health, 29 July 2023
  • This in turn activates your sympathetic nervous system, which places you in a state of fight or flight.
    — Ron Estes, MSNBC Newsweek, 31 Mar. 2025
  • This can trigger the sympathetic nervous system and send your body into fight-or-flight mode.
    — Maggie O'Neill, SELF, 31 Mar. 2023
  • The sympathetic nervous system is the gas pedal that speeds up the systems involved in fight or flight.
    — Arash Javanbakht, Discover Magazine, 7 Sep. 2023
  • Epidurals affect the sympathetic nervous system, or a series of nerves that spread from your spine to your body.
    — Samantha Lauriello, Health, 26 May 2024
  • Lipov said his research has shown that the block is safe and treats symptoms of an overactive sympathetic nervous system.
    — Julia O'Malley, Anchorage Daily News, 30 Dec. 2022
  • Within that is the sympathetic nervous system, which controls your body’s response to stress.
    — Erica Sweeney, Men's Health, 12 Jan. 2023
  • The whole idea is to move from the sympathetic nervous system, fight or flight, to the parasympethic system, rest and digest.
    — Nina Sovich, WSJ, 20 Sep. 2018
  • As a result, your sympathetic nervous system might kick in with shivering to warm you up and give you some energy.
    — Julie Stewart, Men's Health, 29 June 2022
  • This reaction, triggered by your sympathetic nervous system, is called the fight-or-flight response.
    — Anna Giorgi, Verywell Health, 29 Nov. 2024
  • This then triggers the sympathetic nervous system, which prompts the release of hormones like cortisol via the adrenal glands.
    — Georgia Day, Glamour, 8 Mar. 2024
  • Deep breathing also calms the sympathetic nervous system and relieves stress.
    — Hayden Carpenter, Outside Online, 20 May 2021
  • But luckily, the sympathetic nervous system doesn’t waste time.
    — Jade Wu Savvy Psychologist, Scientific American, 5 Nov. 2019
  • The sympathetic nervous system triggers the release of adrenaline, which primes your body to act quickly.
    — Dr. Jamin Brahmbhatt, CNN Money, 16 Apr. 2025
  • Your sympathetic nervous system, which causes blood vessels to narrow, is the source of this mechanism.
    — Zahra Barnes, SELF, 15 Dec. 2017
  • Researchers have long thought that the sympathetic nervous system arose with the evolution of jawed vertebrates.
    — Will Sullivan, Smithsonian Magazine, 30 May 2024
  • At the same time, the sympathetic nervous system dials back functions that are less urgent, like digestion, and moving food through the gut.
    — Jon Hamilton, NPR, 12 Dec. 2024
  • In your lungs, signals from the sympathetic nervous system dilate airways and often increase your breathing rate and depth.
    — Arash Javanbakht, Discover Magazine, 7 Sep. 2023
  • In addition to lacking jaws, lampreys were also thought to lack sympathetic nervous systems.
    — Will Sullivan, Smithsonian Magazine, 30 May 2024
  • So, reductions in things like our heart rate and blood pressure as a result of changes in our sympathetic nervous system activity.
    — Dana Taylor, USA Today, 4 Mar. 2026
  • The sympathetic nervous system makes sure the small blood vessels in your body’s tissue maintain a baseline level of constriction.
    — Anne R. Crecelius, The Conversation, 20 June 2019
  • The sympathetic nervous system is activated when the body senses a threat, and the adrenal glands release cortisol.
    — Helen Carefoot, Verywell Health, 16 May 2025
  • This response is driven by what doctors call the sympathetic nervous system, the collection of neurons weaving from the spine into the rest of the body.
    — Nicole Johnson, National Geographic, 30 Oct. 2020
  • In the face of a threat, the amygdala sends out a distress signal that activates the sympathetic nervous system and sends adrenaline surging through your body.
    — Shani Harmon, Forbes, 23 Jan. 2025
  • What's actually happening is, my sympathetic nervous system has decided to reroute the path of my blood to my muscles.
    — Jessica Leon, EW.com, 14 Nov. 2022
  • Every time a person stops breathing for a few seconds, the body's sympathetic nervous system goes into action and raises blood pressure.
    — Sandee Lamotte, CNN, 17 Feb. 2022
  • In response to a threat, lightning-fast hormonal changes activate the sympathetic nervous system.
    — Eleanor Morgan, refinery29.com, 13 July 2023
  • Exposure to the cold activates the body’s sympathetic nervous system, which results in a burst of energy and alertness.
    — Alex Janin, WSJ, 4 Nov. 2022
  • The other half of your autonomic nervous system is the sympathetic nervous system.
    — Anne R. Crecelius, The Conversation, 20 June 2019
  • The sympathetic nervous system’s default state of high alertness is suppressed when safety is perceived; these safety brakes are lifted under duress.
    — Grace Leslie, Scientific American, 18 Sep. 2021

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'sympathetic nervous system.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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