Monday Wellness Reflection

Link to Prezi: https://prezi.com/tgam4rpdipon/did-someone-say-snack-time/

For our monday wellness presentation, we chose to talk about the habit of unhealthy snacking in American society and its health implications, and also propose a healthier lifestyle by teaching the class how to make their own healthy snack. We chose to do snacking because we felt like it was a really overlooked problem within the American culture. People always talk about how important it is to eat healthy, with heavy emphasis on meals and post workout foods, as we have clearly seen in our prior monday wellness presentations. However, if people eat unhealthy snacks excessively, they undo all the other work that they do in their workouts and healthy meals. It is imperative that people understand how to snack properly. The most interesting thing I learned through this project was how unhealthy snacking, because it is high in LDL cholesterol and simple sugars and modified carbohydrates, can lead to atherosclerosis, as well as hypertension. This was a really direct implication and demonstration of a combined set of concepts that we learned in class, and I thought that our project really connected both health unit and the circulatory system well. As mentioned previously, this topic is very important for maintaining health and wellness because in our culture, people snack so often that it is unhealthy, on top of all the detrimental ingredients in the food that they eat. If people eat healthy meals and get enough sleep and exercise but consume too many unhealthy snacks, then they undo all the other work that they do and become unfit and unhealthy. On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being good, I would give myself a 10 because I worked really well with Simrun and we both did a lot of research for the presentation, and also spent hours formatting the presentation. We also had to invent our own version of a healthy snack, which took trial and error. Even though we went over time, I don't think that points should be docked because a large chunk of our time was spent waiting for the class to finish their blog posts, gather the ingredients from the back of the room, and generally transition from activity to activity. If you do not account for the time spent doing these events, then we are well within the time limit. Something else that I find interesting about the topic of snacking that we were not able to explore fully due to the time constraint was how other countries snack. America is notorious for their unhealthy snacking  culture, and although we were able to integrate another culture's perspective through the buzz feed video, it would have been even better if we could have Americans commenting on Italian snacks. I would bet that Italian snacks are healthier because I know that Italians have a really huge respect for fresh and natural food, so they would be much more motivated to consume and buy snacks that are much healthier with less faulty labels and harmful ingredients. It would also be interesting to compare the life expectancies of Italians and Americans from the perspective of their snacking. Assuming Italians eat healthier snacks, then technically they should live longer. Americans have a pretty short life expectancy compared to many other countries, especially Asian countries. This is likely because Asian countries eat a lot healthier foods. When you go to an Asian restaurant, majority of the menu items are not excessively oily, fatty, or salty, which are all trademark characteristics of American food. (587 words) 

Measuring Blood Pressure Lab Analysis Questions

1. The systolic pressure was significantly higher than the diastolic pressure, which makes sense because there must be a greater pressure when blood is being pumped by the heart to the organs versus when the heart is not actively using force to pump.
2. A Sphygmomanometer (blood pressure cuff) is used to measure blood pressure. To measure heart rate, a stethoscope can be used, or it can be measured by auscultation.
3. It is bad to use your thumb to measure a pulse because you may easily confuse it with your own pulse.
4. First, wrap the cuff decently tight around the patient's arm slight above the elbow. Then, squeeze the pump in quick, short bursts until the pressure reaches around 150. Slowly release the air until you hear a pulse with a stethoscope placed on the bronchial artery directly above the elbow crease. Count the number of pulses until it can no longer be heard. Record the pressure at which your first heard the pulse and when you could last hear the pulse. Release the pressure in the cuff and remove equipment.
Here are the pictures of the data table and the lab:

Unit 2 Reflection

Health is a measure of how well your body can function, as well as its overall wellbeing. I think that I am relatively health in terms of nutrition, social, and exercise, but I do not get enough sleep and I get stressed out when I have big assignments or tests, or when I just have too many things I need to finish soon. Compared to the students at SHS, I think that I am slightly more healthy because even though we all do not get enough sleep and are stressed out, I can bet that I eat healthier than most of them. Here is a nutrition analysis I did: http://alexandriatso17.blogspot.com/2015/09/nutrition-analysis-using-supertracker.html . The post's graphs show that on most days, I would be quite close to the targeted levels in most of the nutrient categories. What should be done to promote better health on campus is obviously to reduce homework and have some of the teachers put less pressure on the students; some teachers on campus are really ruthless and don't sympathize for all the things students must get done and instead strictly enforce due dates of numerous assignments. Also, the cafeteria sells so many unhealthy processed foods, so they should work on selling healthier foods, including more veggies especially. Some essential themes and understandings from this unit would be balance, variety, and moderate. It is really important to have a balance of nutrients in your diet, as well as a balance in your life between all five pillars of health; if one pillar falls short, the whole "temple" of health collapses eventually. You should also include a variety of foods in your diet, but of course never overconsume, especially overcarbsume. 

I learned a lot about the different hormones that are involved in maintaing the body's health, including leptin, insulin, glucagon, and cortisol, and how it is really easy to create an imbalance in the hormonal levels and start a cycle of deteriorating health. I still don't fully understand REM sleep as well as I would like to, but that's probably because I am really interested in this area and would like to know all the details about it. for example, if you have multiple REM cycles in one night, why do you only remember one dream? is there a certain mechanism in the brain that controls which one you remember, or is it just the last one you have before you wake up that you remember? If it is the latter, then what makes you forget all the other dreams, especially since your brain is just as active? Is the ability to remember your dreams compromised by the REM stage?

In the next unit, I will improve by starting to study for the tests earlier, as well as making sure I date all my notebook entries the day we do the assignment so that I am not trying to fill in dates the night before the notebook check. As for a real world application, one of the things I found really interesting was an iphone app that acts as an alarm clock, and analyzes your sleep patterns. This app helped me analyze my own sleep patterns every night, and through the graph it shows me every morning when I wake up, i can see how many cycles of REM sleep I had at what time during the night, and what times I fell asleep and woke up. I thought that this was pretty cool because it differed from night to night; some nights when I was more stressed out there were a lot of fluctuations in my graph; there was not as much rem sleep, and there were more periods in nrem stages. Even if I didn't consciously know I was stressed out, subconsciously I was, and my sleep patterns reflected this, which I found to be extremely interesting. Below are three pictures that represent the sleep, social, and exercise pillars of the 5 health pillars. 

Nutrition Analysis Using SuperTracker

From my diet monitoring, I learned that I should be eating more fruits more consistently, and consuming more refined grains, as I do not eat many foods that are high in carbohydrates. I also learned that I overeat proteins, but consume enough calcium and vegetables on a daily basis. From the Falcon Market lab, I learned that it is very easy to be fooled by commercial packaging and marketing strategies on the food in super markets, as a lot of the products are packaged to look like they are natural and healthy, when in fact they contain lots of unhealthy chemicals that are detrimental to your health. Not only that, but many foods also manage to sneak in hydrogenated oils, or trans fats, without clearly stating it on the packaging. One specific example of my nutrient deficiencies/excesses is that on Day 1, the graph showed that I only consumed about 60% of my recommended intake for the Whole Fruit category. In Days 2 and 3, I gradually increased my intake in whole fruit, rising to almost 75% on Day 2 and about 80% on day 3. One thing to note about the data is that I regularly take calcium supplements, so the Cheese category on the three days is inaccurately portrayed, as I do get sufficient amounts of calcium daily. 

Here are the screenshots of the 3 days:

Day 1: 

Day 2

 Day 3

To improve my diet, I will continue to increase my intake in fruit until I reach the 100% threshold, and try to keep my intake of refined grains constant. To increase my intake in whole fruit, I will incorporate more fruit into my diet during the day, such as eating grapes or apples with my toast during breakfast, or bringing fruit to snack on at school. To limit my intake of carbohydrates to a constant rate, I will try to pay closer attention to the types of foods that contain a high amount of refined grains and only eat those in moderation. For example, on Day 2, I had a couple of cookies for snack and some noodles for dinner, but since those are both fairly high in refined grains, it basically blew up my refined grains category. In the future, if I know that I am going to have noodles for dinner, then I will remember to get another snack, such as a a bowl of fruit, instead of a few cookies. This way, the intake on refined grains can be limited and I am still able to have a yummy, healthy afternoon snack. 

If I had the opportunity to coach someone on proper health and nutrition, I would definitely warn them to pay close attention to the products that they buy and watch out for refined grains and detrimental chemicals and other substances in food products, such as hydrogenated oils. People tend to not pay as much attention to refined grains, so as the day goes on, the amount they consume exceeds the recommended daily amount very quickly. Hydrogenated oils should not be eaten because they are shown to increase the LDL "Bad" cholesterol while lowering the HDL "good" cholesterol, which in causes a multitude of health concerns including heart disease. I would tell the person I am coaching to make sure that they eat enough fruits and vegetables. Even though I always eat enough vegetables, I don't think that majority of the American population consumes enough vegetables on a daily basis, and whole fruits are often overlooked and insufficiently consumed because people favor deserts and other unhealthy sweets, such as candy and ice cream.  

Health Collage

Health to me means a balanced lifestyle where you and the people around you are happy. The pillars I am strongest at are nutrition, exercise, and social as I get exercise through swimming and am able to interact with children when I coach swimming and through my club at school. I hope to improve in sleep because as a junior, I do not get enough sleep in order to function optimally. This can hopefully be done by completing work more efficiently and therefore sleeping earlier. I would like to learn more about the social aspect of health, as a lot of emphasis has been placed on the other areas, but not so much on the social aspect of health, like what exactly it includes, and how it affects and connects with the other areas of health.

Unit 1 Reflection

This unit was about the four main types of tissue, specifically their function and structure. We also learned about the anatomical positions and the four macromolecules. The themes of this unit were how form fits function, and how all the different functions work together to serve a specific purpose in the human body. I think one of the key essential understandings was to be able to describe and locate any point on the body, as well as understand the main components of the human body, which include epithelia, connective tissue, muscle, and nervous tissue. I learned a lot about these different cells, specifically epithelial and connective tissues, as well as the structure of smooth and skeletal muscles. I did not know that skeletal muscles were multinucleate, and another interesting thing I learned was that epithelial cells are continuous sheets and not only serve as protection, but are also responsible for absorption, secretion, filtration, and forming slippery surfaces. I still do not fully understand the functions of neuroglial cells and also why bones and blood cells count as connective tissue. Next unit, I will improve by studying for the test earlier, and also writing neater if I can so that my notes are easier to read. One real world connection is a pathologist. If someone were to be a pathologist, his understanding and fluency of the anatomical positions would be crucial because he would have to describe where various injuries are on a human body. He would also need to know all the major components of the human body, and how the injuries could have affected the organs or other body parts to cause death. If the pathologist did not have a good understanding on the human body, then there is no way that he would be able to do his job with accuracy and reliability. Even if someone doesn't become a pathologist, knowing the anatomical positions is especially useful because if you or someone else is injured, then you need to describe the anatomical position of the injury to an EMS personnel over the phone. Here are 3 pictures that summarize this unit:

Tissue Lab Relate and Review

Through this lab, I was able to get a really good visualization of what the cells look like and the location of their nuclei, as well as how the cells all interact together. One cell that I thought was particular interesting was the human bone cell, which showed a beautiful black center with lighter gray patterned regions around it. The dark center of the bone was where the blood vessel would flow through, and it was surrounded by the dense, hard gray bone around it. See below for a picture:

The differences between the different tissue types is the shapes of the cells. For example, connective tissue tends to be more l=columnar in shape, and is often very compactly packed together in groups. This makes sense because connective tissues cannot have holes in them, as they have to completely wrap around organs and fill space in between the different organs. Nerve cells are much rounder and tend to be in random circular clumps. They have tiny axons and dendrites, and they can be more spaced out because information can be passed between cells efficiently between dendrites of cells. Muscular cells are often larger and appear more branched, with multiple nuclei and striations, as seen in the human smooth muscle. They need multiple nuclei and lots of space (thus there is branching) because they must code lots of proteins and have space to contract.