Monday Wellness Reflection

Monday Wellness Reflection

My partner Mary and I chose the topic of running because we are both in track and share a passion for the sport of running. It was a topic we both had experience with and would be comfortable talking about in front of an audience. From our presentation I learned more about public speaking and trying different ways to engage the audience rather than just blurting about a bunch of facts. However, during my research time I learned the connection between my bio class and anatomy with the cellular respiration, breakdown of glucose and creating atp. The ap bio class is super detailed and never looks at the big picture, and so it was nice to see the bigger picture for once and understand the little details too. When I run, I don’t run to reap benefits of any kind,; I purely run because I enjoy running and have a drive to become faster. During this research time period I actually learned a lot by reading articles about how it can actually benefit my health and prevent cancers, along with mental illnesses. Running is key to health and wellness because it is under one of the five pillars of health which is exercise. It uses full body motion and activates many muscles along with the whole circulatory system and makes the heart stronger. For our presentation I would give myself a solid 8 or 9 because I think we hit a lot of major points in running and went into detail for our explanations. We did not read off the page the whole time and talked more about certain topics that were not written on the page. Our transitions were pretty smooth, and we were victorious in keeping  the class’s attention on a Monday morning with a video of me running. The video was actually Mary’s idea since my table group mates thought it would be funny to write my name down on the Monday wellness discussion when we asked for favorite runners. The video idea was actually somewhat of a joke to me, until I presented and realized it was not too bad. Our presentation went by a little too quickly maybe and could have been longer, but otherwise it went well. For our activity many people were not properly dressed for running, although a decent number of people commented on the discussion. The drills that i taught on the field would have been better for someone more motivated to “learn” in a sense, but I wasn’t mad. The stride jog stride walk lap we did was fine and people got moving, however, when it came to the 400m race i realized I had not warmed up enough, which sucked a little. I wasn’t always a running enthusiast, and actually hated running as many of my peers do. I started in sports as a swimmer and then moved onto basketball and reluctantly settled with running after my parents made me quit basketball. When I was a freshman I was actually signed up for basketball and was in sports p.e. but ended up not trying out. It was a senior that actually sparked my interest in joining track with his intense training that I loved from basketball. I relived the feeling of pushing my limits to the max again and became determined to prove I could be just as fast as anyone. I never skip leg day.

Sheep heart video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hb0gV67CLQ

Sheep Heart dissection Lab

1. What is the purpose of the pericardium?

The pericardium is the membrane that encloses heart, and covers the major heart vessels.

2. How do arteries differ from veins in their structure?

The arteries bring oxygen-rich blood away from the heart and the veins bring oxygen-poor blood back to the heart. Veins have valves that prevent the backflow of blood.

3. what function do you think the auricle serves?

The auricle allows for a higher blood capacity and higher blood volume.

4. Observe the external structures of the atria and ventricle. What differences do you observe?

The ventricles have thicker walls than the atria because they pump blood out of the heart.

6. draw a picture of the tricuspid valve, including chordate tendinae and papillary muscle.

7. Why is the “anchoring” of the heart valves by the chordae tendineae and the papillary muscle important to heart function? It is important so that the heart does not pump the blood in the wrong direction.

8. Using pictures and/ words describe what you see.

9. What is the function of the semi-lunar valves?

The semi-lunar valve stops any arterial blood from re-entering the heart.

10a. If the valve disease occurs on the right side of the heart, it results in swelling in the feet and ankles. Why might this be?

The ventricles will not be strong enough to pump blood from the feet and toes, and so the blood will accumulate there.

b. If the valve disease occurs on the left side of the heart, what complications would you expect to see?

The body would have trouble getting oxygen throughout the body, and cannot exercise.

11. Using pictures and/ or words, describe what you see.

 

12. Describe how the left and right sides of the heart differ from each other.

the right side receives deoxygenated blood, and the left side pumps oxygen rich blood.

Unit 3 reflection

This unit was on cardiovascular health, and how staying or becoming healthy is the very important. The cardiovascular system works by allowing blood to circulate throughout the body. The left ventricle in the heart pumps oxygenated blood through the aortic valve then into the aorta, which brings the blood to the rest of the body though the arteries, and the from the veins.

 Cardiovascular health is how healthy the heart is. It is sometimes easy forget that taking care of the heart is very important, and failure to do so can lead to  heart related problems. However, it's not just the heart that is important, the body is important as a whole. Genetics, drinking alcohol, and little exercise can all lead to hypertension. Hypertension leads to atherosclerosis, and eventually a stroke.

Exercise is a great way to prevent cardiovascular disease and strengthen the heart. Exercising can lower high blood pressure, and make the heart stronger. Personally, I run 3-4 times a week and occasionally do some weightlifting.



Self growth.

I have learned during this unit that living alone is extremely hard, and it throws my whole body out of its
normal system. I wake up earlier and sleep later, purely because I now have to make my own meals, clean the house, and prepare for the next day. This affected me the most when it came to school because there were days that I did not have time to complete my homework or study and therefore did not understand what was going on in class;I was just too tired. In this anatomy class I was successful in getting enough sleep to pay attention in class, but I really need to step my work. The class is generally interesting which helps; this past week we did a sheep heart dissection which we are not done with yet, but is going pretty good. My group members, which I all became good friends with, worked smoothly, and had a great time examining the sheep heart with a little help from my teacher Mr. Orre.  

unit two reflection

Health is not only a person’s mental or physical condition, but also how balanced one’s body is and if they are hitting all the five pillars of health. I am fairly healthy, but I need to find more balance. I’m doing well in most areas; however, I am not able to consistently get enough sleep due to extra curriculars, plus my school work. I believe that many students at Saratoga high also feel the same way as I do. One way to promote greater health is through education, and taking this anatomy class. Many people would say that they understand that sleep is important, but they don't know how it can affect them, and how simple changes can lead to greater differences.

A simple difference can start with foods we consume. Eating more healthy can getting the portions we need in each food category daily can make us function better. Looking at the big picture though, all parts are equally important. Too much of one pillar can throw off all the other pillars and disrupt the balance. Basically balance is key.

I learned a lot about sleep this chapter, and it really made me rethink about my sleep schedule and how important it truly is for my body. Not fulfilling a certain amount of sleep results in sleep debt, which can only be repaid through naps or more sleep. Something that still confuses me is the way hormones change how the body functions and things that can throw hormones out of place. Next unit I will try to pay more attention to detail.

From my sleep diary this unit, I learned that the more sleep I got, the better I felt during school, and that helped me a lot for learning the material in class. The more I learned in class, the less i had to do at home, which made the week go by with less stress and allowed for me to do my other activities. Doing one thing can create a ripple effect and allow you to fix your other activities, which is key for balance.

My goal is to deadlift 405 by the end of senior year. This is a do able goal for me because I can currently deadlift over 350 and I work on a lot of hamstring strengthening exercises. Reaching 405 would be awesome not only because it’s 4 plates on each side, but also because it is a slightly more long-term goal for me. Hitting 405 would require me to continuous train for a longer period of time and design specific workouts to hit the mark.

The importance of health is not stressed enough to students at this school because of pressures to take hard classes and many extra curricular activities. Although this class is not mandatory to take like health at Saratoga, students should highly consider this class, because it teaches one to truly appreciate his or her own body, and to learn how to take care of it.

Nutrition Analysis

As shown by my results from the supertracker website, I am overall pretty healthy, but I lack some foods. Fruits are important for my body to attain vitamins. While I lack fruits, I also have an excess of carbohydrates and grains and which can lead to energy left unused. I need to balance out my diet more by trying to hit the daily amounts of each category. I can do this by altering  my meals, and decreasing my grain and protein intake. Also as another way to balance what I am eating I could be exercising more to burn off the calories that I consume.

    If I had the opportunity to teach someone about eating healthy and proper nutrition, I would first make meal plans with them to outline what their current diet looks like, and how we can work together and tweek it to hit all the food groups. Afterwards, the next step would be to see what foods we can remove and or replace with better options. The third step after eating healthy would be to get them to actively participate in a form of physical exercise.

What is Heath?

 Health is your mental and physical state of well-being.

My strongest pillar of health would be either exercise or social, and my worst pillar is stress.

I would like to learn how to control my hormones better, especially when I cannot sleep at night and or how to live a healthier life.