- The sensation of getting warning when we need to use the toilet, and enables us to ‘hold on’ if we can’t immediately get to a toilet
- Adapting our temperature according to the environmental conditions – shivering to warm up if we’re cold and sweating to cool down if we’re too hot
- When we stand up the brain stem sends messages to keep the blood flow to the brain so we don’t faint
- Controls our breathing pattern
- Affects our sleep pattern.
When someone has MSA any of the above may not work so well.