Nervous System Responses and Coordination
Reflex actions are your body's emergency responses - they're involuntary, lightning-fast, and designed to protect you from harm. The reflex arc bypasses your brain entirely, going straight through your spinal cord for maximum speed.
Take the knee-jerk reflex: when the patella tendon stretches, stretch receptors detect this change, send signals to your spinal cord, which immediately tells your leg muscles to contract. The blinking reflex works similarly - something hits your cornea, sensory neurons alert relay neurons, which trigger motor neurons to slam your eyelids shut.
Your nervous and endocrine systems team up brilliantly during stress through the fight-or-flight response. Your hypothalamus coordinates both systems simultaneously, triggering two pathways.
Memory Tip: Reflexes are fast because they involve fewer synapses and skip the brain - think "short circuit for safety!"
The adrenal-cortical system releases ACTH from your pituitary gland, which stimulates cortisol production. Meanwhile, your sympathetic nervous system directly triggers adrenaline and noradrenaline release. Adrenaline works through the secondary messenger model, converting ATP to cAMP, which activates enzymes for glycogenolysis - breaking down glycogen for instant energy.