Monday Wellness Reflection

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1UsKihVjtmiED1CpwnmNkNjWoY4piPAqKse-z3wJKnO8/edit

I have always wondered why music brings back memories. I was curious as to what parts of the brain functioned when this happened. This is one of the major reasons that I chose this topic. I also wanted to find out the other health benefits of listening to music. The answers to the questions of why we are so eager to dance along to music, why does music increase our physical performance, as well how music can increase productivity all drew me to choose the topic of music and how it affects the human body. These questions all relate to my life, as I listen to music on a daily basis, from when I am exercising, doing homework, or just relaxing at home.

I came across many interesting things while preparing the presentation. I came across many studies relating to the reason why music brings back these deeply ingrained memories. One study showed the different parts of the brain at work and I learned a lot about what these regions of the brain are responsible for. I also came across another video that presented how this type of mental stimulation was beneficial for Alzheimer's patients, another fact I found extremely interesting. I also found it interesting learning just how much music can affect productivity and memorization. In some cases listening to a certain music can increase productivity 30 percent while listening to other types can decrease productivity by the same amount. I found this interesting as I always listen to music while doing work, and that the type of music I listen to can affect my work performance.

My topic is important for health and wellness as music can have many health benefits. Listening to music can help physically when one does exercise as it distracts one from the exercise at hand and can increase physical performance so much as 20 percent. Listening to music can also help one relax and calm down, reducing stress. Music has been deeply ingrained in the human brain. Listening to different music has evolved the brain to where it is now, and as a result music has proven to be an extremely important in human life. It can help us recall even the farthest back of memories as well as help treat mental disorders. These are only a couple of the health benefits of music, however, they prove that listening to music can have a profound impact on one’s life.

On a scale of 1-10 I would rate myself a 9. I would rate myself this for many different reasons. The first being that I practiced my presentation many times. I tried to know the topic at hand and not have to read off note cards during the presentation. I also believe that my presentation had enough energy and liveliness to interest the class and not have them fall asleep. During my presentation I also tried very hard to keep the class interested and end the presentation on time so we did not have any awkward time doing nothing at the end of the presentation. I believe that my presentation went very well and as a result I believe that I would rate myself a 9.

Health

Health, to me, means having a well balanced life that includes all of the pillars listed above. To me I feel the pillars that I am the strongest at are exercise, nutrition, and stress. I exercise regularly almost everyday of the week either going to the gym or training for badminton. I also try to eat healthy foods throughout the day and make sure I get sufficient nutrients for the amount of exercise I do. I am also good at handling stress and making the best out of very high pressure situations. I feel normally feel relaxed and at ease throughout the week. The pillars that I need to work on are sleep and social. I get, on average only around 5 hours of sleep during the week. I also believe that I do not spend enough time with my friends and family as I should. I want to learn more about nutrition. Specifically I want to know what a healthy diet consists of and what I should be eating throughout the day.

Unit 1 Reflection

This unit served as an introduction to anatomy and physiology. It taught us a lot about the molecular biology that occurs in the human body as well as the major types of tissues their functions. We also learned the proper way to examine a body through the use of directional terms. We also learned the organization of the human body and hierarchy that occurs in organisms. The essential themes that we glossed over in this unit were the organization of the human body, the different tissues that occur in the human body, and finally the major macro molecules that make up the human body.

One thing that I still do not fully understand is the exact locations of each of the different tissue types as well as the exact functions of them as well. I know the relative functions for the four different major types of tissue however, I am still confused on all the possible functions of the epithelial and connective tissues as there is such a vast variety of these types of tissues. I also still do not understand how adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is produced in the human body and how it contributes to the contraction and expansion of muscle tissue.

I will improve next unit by dedicating more of my time to studying anatomy throughout the unit. I will not try to cram for the exam and study all of the material just one or two days before the exam. This does not allow me sufficient time to fully understand the major concepts of the unit and draw major connections between the major themes of the unit.

Anatomy is something that will help me immensely in the real world. I plan to become an engineer when I go to college, and I strongly believe that much of the work I do will revolve around medical devices. For this I will need to eventually need to learn the anatomy and physiology of the human body as well as many other concepts relating to body mechanics.

Relate and Review tissue Lab

In this lab I learned a lot about the different structures of the different tissues in the human body. Not just the differences between the four major tissues but I also saw the differences of different types of the same tissue. One example of this is through the different types of cartilage that we saw as well as the blood and bone. All of these are part of the same classification as connective tissue and without this lab I never really would have seen the major differences between them. I also made many connections to the things that we were taught in class to this lab. I saw the actual shape of the different types of epithelial cells and was able to see the similarities between the structures we were taught in class and what we actually observed. I also was able to observe all of the properties of cardiac and skeletal muscle cells that we learned in class through the microscope. I saw many differences between the tissue types. Muscle tissue looked very long and fibrous, contrasting much with the different types of connective tissue such as bone, blood, and cartilage. The nervous tissue also looked extremely different from the other tissues as the cells were shaped much differently and it looked more like an electrical network than a tissue composed of cells. I could see how the shapes of the muscle tissue cells help with their function. The cardiac muscle cell is branched and has the intercalated disks on the end to help keep the muscle tissue together while the heart is beating. The long tubules of the skeletal muscle tissue help for the muscle to contract and expand smoothly. I also saw how the epithelial cells function well as the skin as they are layered and designed to cover the different organs and the body.

Here are some pictures of the different tissue samples