Snacking

10/26/15

Snacking

1. What was healthy about the snack you made?
   It consisted of apples, peanut butter, and almonds. Apples reduce cholesterol and contain important nutrients. Peanut butter contains healthy fats. Almonds are high in protein.
2. How often to snack?
   Snack once or twice a day about 2-3 hours before a meal. By doing so, it will reduce your hunger and prevent you from overeating at your next meal. 
3. What's in a healthy snack?
   A healthy snack consists of about 2 or 3 nutritious snacks. They contain ingredients that are beneficial to your health and lack the malicious ingredients such as saturated fats and high carbohydrates
4. Snacks to stay away from?
   Snacks to stay away from include ones that are high in carbohydrates and unhealthy fats. 
5. What did you dislike/like about the activity?
   I thought the activity was well organized and the snack tasted good and was healthy at the same time. However, apples are not in season quite yet so that was the only downside to the delicious, cute snacks we made.

Blood Pressure Lab

10/13/15

Blood Pressure Lab

Data Table:

Heart Rates

	Test Subject 1	Test Subject 2	Average of all subjects
Pulse Rate (radial)	66	66	66
Pulse Rate (carotid)	72	80	76
Stethoscope	62	76	69
Average for Individual Subjects	66.6	74	70.3

Blood Pressure

	Subject 1	Subject 2
Blood Pressure (test 1)	115/70	117/78
Blood Pressure (test 2)	115/70	120/80

Analysis Questions:

1. Compare the systole to diastole
   The systole is the pressure when the first tapping or slamming sound is heard through the stethoscope. The diastole is the pressure when the sound disappears. The systole measurement is higher than the diastole measurement. This is because the systole measurement is when the blood pressure first returns while the diastole measurement is when the pulse dies out. Therefore, the systole number will always be higher than the diastole pressure.
2. What equipment is used to measure heart rate? To measure blood pressure?
   To measure heart rate, we used a stethoscope and our index and middle fingers. To measure blood pressure we used a stethoscope and a blood pressure cuff, which is also known as a sphygmomanometer.
3. Why is using your thumb to measure pulse not ideal?
   It is not ideal to use your thumb to measure pulse because there is actually another pulse in your thumb that could mess up the reading when you are the taking your pulse.
4. In your own words, describe how to use a blood pressure cuff.
   First, put the cuff on above the crease of your elbow. Put the drum of the stethoscope on the inside of the elbow, above the crease. Now, pump up the cuff to around 160 mmHg and slowly begin to release the air, and thus the pressure, from the cuff. Listen for the re-entrance of the blood, which will be a loud heartbeat. Make note of the number, and continue to listen to the heartbeat until it fade. Again, take note the number at which the pulse faded away. The first number is the systolic blood pressure while the second is the diastolic blood pressure.

How to properly put on the blood pressure cuff

Unit 2 Reflection

10/7/15

Unit 2 Reflection

   Health is, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), "a state of complete physical mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of ideas of infirmity". There are actually five pillars of health which few people know about: nutrition, sleep, stress, social, and exercise. 

   Some of the essential themes covered in this unit were what makes you healthy and the effect of each pillar of health on our lives. In this unit, I learned a lot of new information about myself and my body which I did not know. I gained more insight into the workings of my hormones such as leptin and insulin, which affect blood sugar levels and appetite. I also learned about the correct types of exercise (cardio, bone-strengthening, muscle- strengthening) and how my regimen matches up to the requirements of a healthy workout. Also, I realized how important sleep is due to its regenerative abilities and assistance in integrating memory and information. On the flip side, I saw how harmful stress is to the body. I still feel a little fuzzy on the stress pillar, partially because I happened to miss the lecture for a college presentation and got the notes from friends. The next unit I hope to improve on keeping track of the topic learned and the concepts and vocabulary that come with each section. 

   Based on the criteria for health (i.e. five pillars), I feel that people at Saratoga High are generally pretty health, as the majority of the school participates in some sort of sport, eat healthy, and socialize with classmates. However, our campus is lacking in the sleep and stress department, which I believe stems from the homework and rigor of the course at the high school. Although some would argue that it is the student's responsibility to plan ahead, most of the time it is unavoidable. Starting off the week on a Monday means homework from all 7 classes, more than half of which is due the next day and leaves little to no time to get a jump of Wednesday's work. Also, extracurriculars take time as well, which subtracts hours from our homework time. For me, I lose about an average of 2 hours of homework time each day to outside activities. To promote greater health, I suggest assigning homework with the consideration of the amount of time the students have that day to complete the work because sometimes two days is not as much time as it seems. 

  

  

My health goals

One day of my food tracking on SuperTracker

Collage about the 5 pillars of stress