Cardiovascular Mid-unit Summary

In this unit so far, we have learned about the heart(beat), blood composition, blood vessels, and cardiovascular disease. In the hear(beat) lecture, we learned about the structure of the heart and how it beats. We learned that the heart is covered by the pericardium, which secretes a fluid that lubricates the heart and reduces friction. We also talked about the four chambers of the heart , the right atria and ventricle, and the left atria and ventricle. In addition, we learned about the valves that make the blood flow between these chambers. These valves are the tricuspid, bicuspid, and semilunar. Each help to prevent the backflow of blood. What makes the heart beat sound is the cardiac cycle. It is the relaxation and contraction of both the atriums and the ventricles. Everyone knows that heart beats, but the cardiac cycle shows what is going on as the heart is beating. In the blood vessels we learned about how blood vessels have many functions. These functions include the veins carrying blood from tissues to the heart and the arteries carrying blood from the heart to the tissues. We also learned that capillaries are the tiny vessels that connect our arterioles to our venules. When your blood pressure is too high, you are at risk for heart disease.One disease we learned about was atherosclerosis. That is when fatty material deposits on the inside of the blood vessels and the vessel in turn becomes less flexible and it is harder for blood to flow. These blood vessels can become obstructed or pieces can break off and lodge somewhere else. A blood clot can then form. In time, atherosclerosis may cause a stroke or heart attack. When talking about cardiovascular diseases, we discussed heart attacks, atherosclerosis, cholesterol, and other risk factors. A heart attack is caused when the blood supply to the myocardium is severely reduced or stopped which causes damage to the heart cells or even death to the cells. Heart attacks are usually the result of atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis is chronic inflammation caused by excess sugars and polyunsaturated fat (bad fat). We also learned about the two different types of cholesterol, LDL and HDL. LDL is the bad cholesterol and will stick to the arteries like garbage and HDL is good and cleans up LDL like a garabge truck. We talked about the risk factors and how some of these included lack of exercise, obesity, smoking, diabetes, and much more. In "Strike Against Strokes" one point made is that is is necessary to keep a low blood pressure. When your blood pressure rises, it causes damage to all the blood vessels in the body, which in turn can cause strokes and heart attacks. It is also mentioned that you must keep a proper diet in order to maintain a healthy life style and reduce your risk of a stroke. In the atherosclerosis reading, one point made is that although bad cholesterol (LDL) is one factor of atherosclerosis, there are many of risk factors that contribute.

Blood Pressure Lab

1. Systole is when the atrium contracts and the blood is forced from the atria to the ventricles, while diastole is when the ventricles relax and blood is pumped away from the heart. The systole is also what makes the "lub" sound and the diastole is the "dub" sound when listening to the heartbeat.

2. The equipment used to measure heart rate is a stethoscope as well as your pointer and middle finger. The equipment used to measure your blood pressure is a stethoscope and a blood pressure cuff, called a sphygomomanometer. 

3. Using your thumb to measure a pulse is not ideal because your thumb has a pulse of it's own and the two pulses may be confused. 

4. When using a blood pressure cuff, you first want to make sure all the air is released when you tighten it on your arm. Then make sure the air valve is closed as you increase the pressure to around 160. Then, slowly release the valve and when you start to hear the heart beat, that is when you record the first number. When you can no longer hear the heartbeat, that's when you record the second number.

Heart Chalk Walk

The flow of blood through the heart 

Blood enters from the superior vena cava and then goes into the right atrium. It then goes through the tricuspid valve into the right ventricle. From the right ventricle it exits through the pulmonary valve to the pulmonary artery. Next it goes to the lungs to become oxygenated and then through the pulmonary veins into the left aorta. The blood then goes through the bicuspid valve into the left ventricle. It then exits through the aortic valve to the aorta, which then releases blood to the body.

                                   

                                                                     Our heart

Unit 2 Reflection

Health is the measure of our body's efficiency and over-all well-being. There are three different aspects of health, mental, physical, and social. In order to be healthy, you must make sure these aspects and your 5 pillars of health, nutrition, exercise, sleep, stress, and social, are balanced. I would say I am fairly healthy, although there are some aspects of my health that I need to work on. The areas I need work on are sleep and stress. As a full time student I am under a lot of stress and often stay up late working on school or college applications. In turn, I am sometimes not able to get able a lot of sleep. Here at Saratoga, the majority of the students are battling the same problems I am. Just from talking to people, I know a lot of students are sleep deprived and constantly stressed by all the pressure put on us by ourselves, parents, or peers. In order to promote greater wellness and health on campus, students should try to manage their time well and make sure they are balancing their pillars equally. Some of the essential understandings for this unit had to do with understanding how nutrients effect our physiology, why sleep is important, the physiological effects of stress to name a few. In this unit I learned how important your mental and social health is. People may often neglect their mental and social health, believing that physical health is the most important. I learned that making sure you get enough sleep, engage in social activities, and try to limit and control your stress can be just as important as exercising and eating nutritiously. In the next unit, I will make sure to gather a clear understanding from each section as I learn them and will be able to relate them to real life occurrences. In the sleep TED talk, it talked about how important it was to make sure you get enough sleep. That without enough sleep, your body will not be able to function like it normally does or should be able to. This just reinforces what we learned in the sleep lecture about just how important sleep is. How without sleep, it is hard to focus and do every day activities like driving.

My health goals are to eat a well balanced and nutrient filled meal, get at least some sort of daily exercise, as well as trying to manage my stress and making sure I get enough sleep.
Action I will take are trying to walk and go on runs as much as I can. In addition, I will try to be smart with my time and manage all my school work. Really putting in the effort not to get behind.
A healthy life is important to me because I want to make sure I am in good health and and live a long life.
I know I will have reached my goals when I feel like I have balanced out my 5 pillars of health.