Monday Wellness Reflection

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1UR1vzY_YsY7XpSPpRo1RU1pTqrnbz4WGp6l0rRwUcQs/edit#slide=id.p
    
My group and I chose this topic because we all own dogs and believed that they have a major role in helping people. We wanted to know more about therapy dogs and what they did that made them so special and able to aid people with disabilities and such. I personally love all animals and go to either my cat or my dog when I am having a bad day. They are always happy to cuddle. I also believe that one reason why people love animals is because they don't judge you and they listen to you.

Something that was very  interesting to know was that that they could help with stress, social skills, and know exactly when someone with something like bipolar disorder or seizures might have an episode. Many people with PTSD also own dogs. I didn't understand at first why an animal could help with that but then by researching, I realized that at least with people who have PTSD, they weren't able to focus much on their flashbacks because the animal demanded constant attention. From research, we found out that just by owning a dog, symptoms were reduced by up to 82%. These results are amazing considering it is not medication, but a living thing that can aid in recovery. They help with stress by lowering the blood pressure and cholesterol levels. It was also very cool to research the animal assisted therapy on patients with autism because having the responsibility of holding a leash, or throwing a ball for the animal can propel the child into cognitive function and ability. The child is also able to gain self confidence and self-awareness from being in the presence of an animal. Also, having a dog in the household can reduce related allergies by up to 33%. Pets can boost immune system, confidence levels, and provide companionship to combat loneliness.

This topic is important for health and wellness because it shows that animals aid a lot in overall health benefits by keeping your cholesterol and blood pressure levels down as well as improve cognitive abilities in people with disabilities. Animals, especially dogs, can improve someone's health and well being dramatically just by being in their presence. Reduced amounts of stress can lead to more healthy lifestyle because you can get more work done and your body can be more relaxed.

I would grade our project at an 8 because we put a lot of time and energy into it. It was kind of difficult to find how dogs exactly helped with reducing stress levels other than to just say that being around them was enough. There weren't that many studies done on why that is, but we liked and enjoyed learning about what was discovered about it. I would dock the points because out overall project was a little bit short and we didn't have the best activity to go along with it.    

Heart Dissection Lab Q's

1)  What is the purpose of the pericardium?
-It protects and stabilizes the heart. It keeps the heart lubricated and also prevents it from getting too big.

2)  Observe the blood vessels connecting to the heart. How do arteries differ from veins in their structure?
-arteries are elastic and thick. The walls of arteries contain smooth muscle fiber that contract and relax.

3)  What function do you think the auricle serves?
-They contain oxygenated (left auricle) and deoxygenated(right auricle) blood that are cycled through to either the left ventricle from the left auricle and the right ventricle from the right auricle.

4)  Observe the external structures of the atria and ventricles. what differences do you observe?
-The ventricles are thicker and more muscular than the atria because they pump more blood, further.

5)  Why is the "anchoring" of he heart valves by the chordae tendineae and the papillary muscle important to heart function?
-It ensures that the valves close properly in order for there to not be any leaks that can be fatal.

6)  What is the function of the semi-lunar valves?
-they make sure that the blood is going in the right direction. They prevent the backflow of blood from the arteries to the ventricles during ventricle diastole. The semi-lunar valve also helps maintain pressure on major arteries.

7)  If valvular heart disease occurs on the right side of the heart, it results in swelling in the feet and ankles. Why might this happen?
-The right side of the heart is responsible for pumping blood to the whole body. If the valve is leaking, then the blood isn't able to reach the feet as much.

8)  If valvular disease occurs on the left side of the heart, what would you expect to see?
-You would expect to see lower oxygen in the blood, creating tiredness.


9)  Describe how the left and right sides of the heart differ from each other.
-the right side of the heart is thicker and more muscular because it pumps blood to the whole body, whereas the left side of the heart is thinner because it pumps up blood through the lungs.

Heart Dissection Video Walkthrough

Unit 3 Reflection

•Put it all together. What was this unit all about?
This unit was about the circulatory system, the heart, blood, cardiovascular diseases, and the respiratory system. So the main theme of this unit was the flow of how certain things go in the body.

•How does the cardiovascular system work?
The cardiovascular system is made up of blood vessels and the heart. The heart circulates oxygen-rich and oxygen-poor blood through the body and the lungs. Blood vessels include veins, arteries, and capillaries.

•What is cardiovascular health? What causes heart disease and stroke? 
cardiovascular health depends on blood pressure, LDL and HDL levels, and cholesterol levels. Some things that cause heart disease and stroke are plaque build up in arteries (AKA atherosclerosis), lack of exercise, high blood pressure. Other factors that can cause these risks are smoking, diabetes and high cholesterol.

•If you can, upload the video of your heart chalk walk

•What can you do to promote your cardiovascular health?
To promote cardiovascular health you can exercise, eat healthy, keep your blood pressure down, and don't smoke.

Reflect on your learning process and self growth
This unit was very interesting, although there were many different things that we had to remember and to learn.

•Interpret how things went this unit by discussing either of the following, or both:
◦Your strengths and weaknesses.
Some strengths from this unit for me would have to be that I thought it was interesting so it kept me engaged. The only bad thing about it was that there was a lot of information to remember and  it is hard for me to stay focused for long periods of time.

These could be skill based or content based. For example: What topics were difficult to understand and what topics do you still not fully understand? What did you learn about managing the demands of the class or how you work in collaborative settings? In other words, are you a better student today than yesterday? Why?
I definitely work better in a collaborative setting. Learning and doing labs with other people helps me to bounce ideas off of them and hear ideas that I might not have thought of myself. Some topics that were difficult to understand was remembering all the different types of White Blood cells and there functions. I would mix them up. I believe that I am a better student than I was yesterday because I am able to reflect on what went well as opposed to what didn't and will now hopefully be able to fix what did not go well.

•What goals do you have for the remainder of the semester?
For the remainder of the semester, I hope to keep my grade in the B+ or better range.

Blood Pressure Lab Follow-Up

What factors are known to cause increases in blood pressure?

-The factors that are known for increases in blood pressure are hypertension, a high-salt diet, a lack of exercise and alcohol consumption.

Use your knowledge about the heart and the circulatory system to make a hypothesis about how the average blood pressure for a group of people would be affected by manipulating the age and gender of the group members.

-The average blood pressure for a group of people would be higher for people who are older. Also, men will generally have a higher average blood pressure than women.

What sorts of problems might a person develop who has chronic hypertension?

-Someone who has chronic hypertension can develop coronary artery disease, have an aneurysm, heart or kidney failure, and possibly a stroke.

Analyze the result of your experiment. Explain any patterns you observed.

-My experiment showed that younger kids and adults generally had a better blood pressure and were less likely to consume alcohol regularly. The older people get, the more likely their blood pressure will be bad due to lack of exercise.


Did the result of your experiment support your hypothesis? Why or why not? Based on your experiment what conclusion can you draw about the relationship of age and gender to group blood pressure averages?

-My experiment did match my hypothesis because it showed that older people in general got a higher blood pressure. The conclusions that I can draw about the relationship of age and gender to group blood pressure averages is that older men tend to get either blood pressure is then women in general.


During the course of your experiment, did you obtain any blood pressure reading that were outside of the normal range for the group being tested? What did you notice on the medical charts for these individuals that might explain their high reading?

-There were incidents where a teenager would show high blood pressure due to alcohol consumption. There were also times when I would pull up a roomful of around 50-year-old males, and all of them would have healthy blood pressure levels.


List risk factors associated with the hypertension. Based on your observation, which risk factor do you think is most closely associated with hypertension?

-Risk factors associated with hypertension are too much salt in the diet, too much alcohol consumption, and not enough exercise leading to obesity. Based on my observations the risk factors that most closely associates with hypertension would most likely be lack of proper exercise.


What effect might obesity have on blood pressure? Does obesity alone cause a person to be at risk for high blood pressure? What other factors, in combination with obesity, might increase a person's risk for high blood pressure?

-Obesity can have an effect on blood pressure due to the amount of fatty cells in one's body. Obesity alone can cause a small percentage of high blood pressure. Some other factors that can contribute to persons risk for high blood pressure include too much salt and not enough exercise.

Lab: Measuring Blood Pressure

Analysis Questions:

1. Compare the systole to the diastole 

Systolic pressure is the number that the blood pressure cuff reads when the ventricles are contracted. Diastolic pressure is the number that is read when the ventricles relax

1. What equipment is used to measure heart rate? To measure blood pressure?

to measure heart rate you use the rate of your pulse. For this, you can use a stethoscope. To measure blood pressure, you use a sphygmomanometer.

1. Why is using your thumb to measure pulse rate not ideal?

Your thumb has its own pulse rate.

1. In your own words, describe how to use a blood pressure cuff.

To use a blood pressure cuff, you put it above your elbow with the tubes running down the length of your arm to you palm. Your hand should be faced up and relaxed. Close the valve on the pump and pump until the needle reaches around 180. Slowly rotate the valve until the needle starts moving at about 2 mmHg per second. Record observations.

	Test 1	Test 2	Average for all students
Pulse rate (radial)	74	68	71
Pulse rate (carotid)	64	58	61
Stethoscope	62	60	61
Average for individual subjects	66.6	62	64.3

	Subject 1	Subject 2
Blood Pressure (test 1)	122/65	115/70
Blood Pressure (test 2)	125/73	121/81

Unit 2 Reflection

 

Put it all together. What is health?

Health is a balance of exercise, diet and social interaction. Exercise is very important because it reduces the risk of adverse health outcomes such as obesity (a healthy diet is needed to not be obese as well). A healthy diet consists of balance, moderation, adequacy and variety. There are 6 different classes of nutrients that also contribute to a healthy diet: carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, vitamins, minerals, and water. By getting a daily moderation of all these nutrients, it helps the body to function at a high level.

How healthy are you? What about people at SHS? What could/should be done to promote greater health and wellness on campus?

I am pretty healthy because I exercise a lot, I get a good amount of social interaction with people due to school and volleyball, and I eat rather healthy. There are some days where I don't eat that healthy at all but I think that I make up for it in how much I exercise. I think the population at SHS is more healthy than unhealthy just because we have the required health (/drivers ed) that we take in freshman year. We also have a high percentage of people in some sort of sport be it basketball, volleyball, or color guard/ band. To promote even greater health and wellness on campus, we should have assemblies on the importance of health every year, where even just a teacher can present to the whole school just the basics of health.

What were the themes and essential understandings from this unit?

The themes of this unit were the pillars of health (nutrition, exercise, sleep, stress, and social). The essential understandings were the effects of unhealthy versus healthy decisions and habits.

What did you learn?

I learned a lot about how to maintain a really healthy diet and that you need to have a balance of a lot of different things in order to have your body function at its best. I think the best way to sum everything up is by a quote that I read from one of the reading we had to do : "Eat food. Not too much, Mostly plants".

What do you still not fully understand?

It's not that I don't understand it, its more of that I thought it was very interesting: the fact that people who retired from a very stressful or busy work environment were more likely to die at a younger age due to the stress put on them while they were working. It didn't occur to me that people could die from too much stress. But I guess that all the pillars tie into each other which means that if someone is stressed, then they might not be getting enough sleep which can lead to a sleep debt. And I know that if you don't catch up on the sleep debt that you can die from that. (as well as not proper nutrition or exercise)

How will you improve in the next unit?

For the next unit, I will improve by not just taking notes straight from the board, but rather do that as well as listen to what Mr. Orre is saying and write some extra notes on the side where he gives us a little bit of margin space.

Find a real world application that relates to something you learned in this unit.  It could be a college major, a job, a discovery, something from your life, a TED talk, etc.  Link to it, describe it, explain how it relates to this unit, and share anything you think is worth talking about.

One job that relates to all of this is a doctor because they have to know everything about health in order to prescribe the right medications needed to help someone. One example of a doctor that is very well know for his health tips is Dr. Oz. He talks about all sorts of topics such as health supplements, to diet plans to good exercise habits, Here is a link to a video where he talks about ways to reduce stress. http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Dr.Oz+health+talk&FORM=HDRSC3#view=detail&mid=13DDFACA8550C733E91913DDFACA8550C733E919

Nutritional Analysis

    


In my diet, I didn't get enough grains any of the days, but I got a sufficient amount of fruits. I was also low on proteins and vegetables. This was surprising because I am usually pretty good about eating vegetables and I eat a lot of salads but on the three days that I tracked my food, I didn't eat a single salad. On the second day, I didn't actually eat dinner because it was a busy day, but I instead had a couple of snacks (grapes and cheese). After doing the falcon market, I realize that I have to look for trans fats in the ingredients rather than in the nutrition facts because it will not show up if there is less than one gram. Instead, it will show up as a hydrogenated oil in the ingredients. I need to definitely eat more grains such as cereals or granola for breakfast, even though eggs are good protein-wise. Also, I need to eat more veggies every day for snacks such as tomatoes, cucumbers, or bell peppers. I don't think going over on something (such as fruit in my case) is bad, but I may want to limit fruit items so that I am not going over every day. Overall, this food tracking has had me look more at what I am eating and has caused me to think more on what I should be eating more or less of depending on my amount of exercise and daily nutritional needs.

 

If I were to coach someone with poor nutrition and health, I would tell them to make sure that they are not eating and excess of any one thing and to watch out for those hydrogenated oils in products that they are consuming. Definitely get all of your grains in because I feel as if that is one thing that most people are low on. It's difficult to make sure that you are eating the right amount of foods that you need, but with tracking your food for a couple of days, it helps you understand what you should cut out of your diet and then add in as well. So by helping the person understand all of that, I think that they would be able to make healthier eating decisions and habits.

 



 

Health Collage

Health means the wellbeing of the human body in the social, mental, and physical aspects. One needs to be mentally stable, get sufficient exercise, and also needs to feel socially accepted. Food and nutrition have a lot to do with health and the way the body functions. There are 5 pillars of health: Nutrition, Exercise, Sleep, Stress, and Social. The pillar that I am the strongest at is sleep which is surprising since I am in high school. The one where I would probably need to make improvements on is my Nutrition. I get plenty of exercise so I am able to stay fit, but I don't get the recommended amounts of grains, vegetables, fruits, dairy, and proteins every day. I would like to learn more about the effects of stress and other mentalities on health such as thinking processes and how certain actions one can take can effect health mentally. 

Unit 1 Reflection

This unit was about histology and the structure and function of a human body. The essential themes and understandings are how the function and structure are related as well as the different tissue types. i learned a lot about the different tissues such as that there are 4 types and that there are those 4 types also have different characteristics to them. For example, there are 3 different types of muscle tissue: skeletal, smooth, and cardiac. For the next unit, I will improve by studying for the test sooner and longer. I will pay more attention and do better on labs and blog posts. I would like to be a nurse so learning about the human anatomy and physiology fascinates me. 

Tissue Lab Relate and Review

Epithelium, ciliated columnar:
Covers body surface or lines body cavity; Some functions include protection and filtration. It creates a slippery surface. (left)

9 out of 12 of my drawings of the different types of
cells that we looked at under a microscope.

In this lab, I looked at 12 different types of tissues under a microscope. By learning about them and then looking at them, it helped me learn more and be more interested. It was very interesting to see the tissues and how they looked based on ideas such as the number of layers or the structure without having to look at it through a picture or diagram. Some of the most interesting tissues to look at and draw were the ones labeled " stratified squamous (top) dense irregular connective (bottom)" and "blood smear human". The first one was really cool because it showed how the epithelial and connective tissues blended together. The human blood smear sample was very pretty and looked simple. There were perfectly shaped ovals, circles, and peanut looking cells inside of this sample. I wouldn't think that blood looked that way especially because it was called a "smear". 

The different tissue types are connective, epithelial, muscle, and nervous. Connective tissue is " the most diverse and abundant" (Histology Part 1). It's main function is to bind together, strengthen, and support the other three tissues. Epithelial tissue covers body surfaces or lines body cavities. It's main function is protection. Muscle tissue has three types: skeletal, smooth, and cardiac. And nervous tissue "transmits electrical signals from sensory receptors to effectors" (Histology Part 2).

This lab made it both interesting and fun to look at the different types of tissues. i learned many things and it made it easier to remember by seeing visuals. 

Cell Specialization: T cells

There are a couple of different types of white blood cells, but I am going to focus on T-cells, or lymphocytes. T-cells are shaped like a sphere with spikes sticking out called T-cell receptors. They are produced in bone marrow and then are transported to the thymus (located under the breastbone). There are two kinds of T-cells; killer (which attack infested cells), and helper (which help with "coordinating" the attack). A T-cell only has a nucleus and no other organelles.  As I said before, T-cells specialize in attacking infected cells. They release a toxin called cytotoxin which will kill the infected cell. T-cells are a part of the connective tissue, specifically the blood and bone part. 

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Sweetness Lab

In this lab, we tasted 8 different types of carbohydrates. The carbohydrates that had less structure were more sweet. The monosaccharides were super sweet such as glucose and fructose but the polysaccharides such as starch and cellulose were not sweet at all. Starch is found in breads and potatoes and it is the most common carbohydrate in the human diet. Milk has lactose in it which is a disaccharide. Fructose is extremely sweet, found in honey and fruits and is derived from sugar cane. Our tongues can differentiate between flavors such as sweetness because they have taste buds inside of the little bumps all over your tongue. Everybody's taste buds are different though and someone might think something is sweeter than what another person might think.

Works cited

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taste

http://www.sanger.ac.uk/about/press/2010/100610.html