Tremendously complication actions that are happening generally below our conscious awareness that are indeed vegetative.  Can be controlled by emotion.  We're all familiar with the idea that we are emotionally distraught that our digestion can be different, etc.  But typically we can't control for in a conscious way the rate of our digestion or the speed of our heartbeat in any kind of direct way.  We can have a particular pattern of thought to control those but in general those functions were thought to be vegetative and outside of our conscious control.  And the name "Autonomic Nervous System" swallowed and overtook the vegetative part but also 3 main aspects of body-to-brain signaling: heart-rate [could be quickening or slowing of heart-rate; we are and can be very aware of that, some of us more aware than others], gut, especially the chemical composition and the extent to which our gut is empty or full, . . .   So heart, stomach, and rate of breathing.