Unit 3 Reflection

In Unit 3 we learned about the various components of the heart, blood vessels, blood, cardiovascular diseases, and circulatory system. At the very end, we touched on the respiratory system because it is in many important ways connected to the cardiovascular system. 

At the beginning of the unit, we covered how the cardiovascular system continuously circulates blood and oxygen throughout the body via arteries and veins. The heart is divided into four chambers--right/left atria and right/left ventricles--that pump blood to the heart for reoxygenation and also to the body to distribute nutrients and oxygen. The respiratory system brings oxygen into the lungs and fills the blood with oxygen through the alveoli and capillaries that surround them.

When the heart is unhealthy due to a bad diet, cardiovascular diseases may arise, the most well known being heart attacks. Heart attacks result from a severely reduced blood supply to the myocardium, no to be confused with cardiac arrests, which occurs when there's a malfunction in the electrical system of the heart. A big culprit of heart attacks is atherosclerosis, where a plaque develops in a blood vessel due to the excessive intake of fats and sugars and clogs the vessels enough to hinder blood flow. Similarly, strokes in the brain can be caused by atherosclerosis nearer to the brain, but also the bursting of vessels in the brain.

Cardiovascular health can be maintained by looking after diets, particularly the intake of HDL and LDL levels. HDL really help lower the risks for contracting a heart attack or stroke and is more important to have high HDL levels than low LDL levels. Exercise can prevent overweightness and the build up of fatty waste in blood vessels, thereby preventing problems like atherosclerosis.

I thought that just learning the various parts of a heart was really confusing because the heart has so many vessels leading blood in and out, and in addition, has so many small details like the chordae tendinae or semi lunar valves that made the heart overall just really complex and hard to grasp. I would perhaps be interested in learning more about how  electrical pluses work in pumping the heart because we only discussed it a little when talking about nodes.

This class is demanding in that it requires a lot of outside-of-class work, especially for the blogs, which I have to make sure to plan my time accordingly for. Unfortunately, I'm weak in the motivation department and have a hard time not procrastinating on homework that requires more effort. I am thankful, however, that this unit included a lot of group work, because I find it helpful to work with others that may understand parts of the lectures more than I do and can help me digest information better.

Looking that my Unit 2 goals, I am sad to report that I have not starting running like I wanted to, but I do make an effort to sleep earlier/more now. I've actually been noticing a small increase in energy in the mornings now when I wake up--progress! As for the remainder of the semester, I would like to continue working on my Unit 2 goals, but also try to become more self motivated so I can improve my academics and not fail school like I am right now.

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