Heart Dissection Lab Questions

1. The purpose of the pericardium is that it secretes a fluid that helps lubricate the heart therefore reducing friction.

2. Arteries differ from veins in that veins have thinner walls than arteries because arteries need thicker walls in order to deliver blood to the entire body.

3. The function that the auricle serves is that is increases the capacity of the atrium, which allows the blood it can hold to increase.

4. The auricle, which is an extension of the atrium, is visible on the outside of the heart while the ventricles are not visible until an individual looks inside the heart. Both the left atrium and ventricle has more muscle surrounding it than the right side because it requires more power to pump the blood throughout the entire body. While the right atria receives oxygenated blood, the right ventricle discharges the blood. On the other hand, the left atria receives oxygen rich blood, and the ventricle discharges the blood.

6.  When you cut into cross sections, an individual is able to see the biscuspid valve.

7. The importance of "anchoring" the heart valves by the chordae tendinae and the papillary muscles is that it prevents the back flow of blood within the heart. Both the chordae tendinae and the papillary muscles contract to close the valves and with out either being attached, the valves would not be able to close.

8.  We are seeing inside of the left atrium and then the bicuspid valve, which is held to the walls by the chordinae tendinae and the papillary muscles.

9. The function of the semilunar valves is that it prevents arterial blood from re-entering the heart. It has two different types: the pulmonary semilunar valve and the aortic semilunar valve.

10.
a. There would be swelling in the feet and ankles because the blood that comes from the body enters through the superior and inferior vena cava, and since there is a regurgitation of the blood within the heart, the blood then leaks back into the body and causes swelling.

b. If the problem occurred in the left side, there would be serious complications due to the fact that the individual does not have sufficient oxygen in their blood.

11. We found an opening in the left ventricle, and it was mostly obscured from our view however it has a similar structure to the tricuspid.

12. In the heart, the left and right side differ in that the left side has more muscle because it requires a greater strength to pump the blood to the entire body. While on the right side, it only pumps blood to the lungs making it significantly smaller than the left side of the heart.

13.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfhTsnHHMEA

Unit 3 Reflection

In this unit, we learned about the heart, its functions, and the respiratory system. In the cardiovascular system, it begins in the heart which has many different components: the pericardium, which secretes a fluid to lubricate the heart; the four chambers of the heart, the right and left atria and ventricles; and the valves, the tricuspid, bicuspid, and the semilunar which prevent backflow in the heart. The heart first has a atrial systole, where the atria's contract and forces blood from the atria to the ventricles, then to the ventricular systole, where the ventricles contract and the blood is pumped away from the heart, and lastly the relaxation, where the ventricles relax and the SV valves close until the ventricular pressure is lowered below atrial pressure and then they reopen.

In order to maintain good cardiovascular health, an individual needs to maintain a healthy weight and diet, exercise on a regular basis, controlling inflammation, and controlling blood pressure and cholesterol. Without following a healthy lifestyle, a individual's heart can suffer several consequences such as atherosclerosis, which are fatty deposits in the blood vessels causing the vessels to become obstructed; and aneurysms, which are weakened sections of the blood vessel walls that can burst. Heart attacks, disease, and strokes can also occur with an unhealthy heart. A heart attack is caused by blood supply to the myocardium is reduced that can result to heart cells or death. Another problem would be a stroke, which is a brain injury that occurs when the blood supply to part of the brain is interrupted. There are multiple types of strokes: ischemic stroke, where the artery that supplies the blood to the brain becomes blocked; and a hemorrhagic stroke, where an artery in the brain bursts.

In order to prevent heart attacks, heart disease, or strokes, and individual can: control their blood pressure, control cholesterol, eat a healthy diet, stop smoking, manage stress, and exercise. Living a healthier lifestyle can greatly reduce and individuals chance of heart attacks and strokes.
One unanswered question I have at the end of this unit is why even after having a heart attack, would an individual continue their unhealthy lifestyle and risk another heart attack? Also how would an individual who has a genetic history of heart disease or heart attacks learn to prevent a heart attack or disease?

Moving forward onto upcoming units, I will need to review more throughout the unit rather than waiting for the unit test. Going through the semester, my health goals are proving hard to maintain because as the semester is soon ending, there is a lot more stress and homework, making it hard to focus on my health goals. Even as hard as it is, I will try to get more sleep and stress as little as I can.

Sheep heart:                                                       Heart Diagram:    


Right ventricle

Monday Wellness

1. The snack we just made during class-which contained almonds, and apple, and peanut butter- was healthy because it contained protein, antioxidants, and unsaturated fats.
2. You should be snacking two to three hours before a meal.
3. When eating a "healthy snack", should contain protein, fiber, and should normally be under 200 calories.
4. You should avoid snacks with a lot of carbohydrates, saturated fats, and empty calories.

Measuring Blood Pressure

1. In the systolic blood pressure, it is the first time you will hear the blood pumping through the artery as well as the maximum pressure that is achieved during the ventricle contraction. When the sound disappears, it is caused by the ventricles relaxing and the arterial pressure decreases. The diastolic pressure is the lowest pressure that is in the artery before the next ventricular contraction.

2. In order to measure heart rate, you will need to use a stethoscope, and when measuring heart rate a sphygmomanometer is used.

3. When you are measuring your pulse, make sure that you do not use your thumb. Your thumb has a pulse as well and can cause you to either miscount or get confused while counting your pulse.

4. When using a sphygmomanometer:
     1.) Make sure the cuff is fully deflated before placing it on your upper arm, making sure that it fits comfortably. Take the pump in your non-dominant hand, ensuring that your fingers can reach the valve at the top and be able to open and close the opening on the air pump.
     2.) Put the end of the stethoscope slightly underneath the cuff and slightly above the crease of the individuals elbow.
     3.) Inflate the cuff by squeezing on the pump. Make sure to watch the pressure gauge while pumping, and stop around 150 mmHg or when the pulse stops.
     4.) When the pressure gauge reaches 150, slowly open the valve on the pump. Make sure not to open the valve too quickly.
     5.) Listen to what you hear as the needle on the gauge slowly drops. The first time you hear a pulse, check the number on the gauge, this is the systolic blood pressure.
      6.) The sound will get louder, but when you hear the sound fade out and stop, look at the number on the gauge. This is the diastolic blood pressure.

Unit 2 Reflection

                  Health is the measure of the body's efficiency and overall well being. In order to be "healthy" there are certain pillars- nutrition, exercise, sleep, and social- that are necessary to achieve this. Going off of these pillars that are extremely important to maintaining a healthy lifestyle, most Saratoga High students, including myself, are often lacking in one or more pillar. As for myself, I struggle to receive enough sleep on a daily basis and often are stressed for a long duration of time. For the student body as a whole, many students are often not receiving enough sleep, are often stressed due to the major importance that is placed on grades, as well as the stress of the countless tests and quizzes. Teachers need to be more aware of how much pressure are on their students, coordinate when their tests and quizzes are so they don't overlap as often, and check in on the students more often to see how stressed or tired they are.
           The general themes that had great importance during this unit was what health is generally, what aspects of our daily lives impact how healthy we are, and going in depth with each of those aspects. If one of those "pillars" of health is being affected, it affects the entire health of the person, not just one single item in his or her life. Learning that often times the body is more affected by the pillars than I had thought, it creates a big change to what I believed was healthy. Having a poor diet could effect your digestion and bone growth; exercise can greatly benefit you by lowering the risk of chronic disease and improves mental and cognitive functions; sleep is extremely important to a individual because it rests the body, repairs and renews tissues and nerve cells, and organizes your long term memory; and finally, stress can be useful in some situations but if an individual is stressed for to long, it could be detrimental. One concept that I still am struggling to fully understand is how once you fall asleep, your body has an entire sensory shut down and can no longer be aware of its environment, yet our brains are still completely active especially during REM and can often have vivid dreams.
                    Moving onto the next unit, I will need to be able to go back and review all of my activities to make sure that I fully understand the concepts and be able to truly learn versus memorizing for the test. An realistic example of how a single pillar can truly affect an individual would be nurses. Nurses often are working long hours and rarely receive a sufficient amount of sleep, which increases their sleep debts throughout the work week. In the book, Patient Safety and Quality: An Evidence Based Handbook for Nurses, written by Ann E. Rogers, conducted a study that showed that nurses who had received a sufficient amount of sleep made less errors than those who hadn't received enough sleep. This prolonged working hours without sleep, affects the nurses speed, accuracy, hand-eye coordination, and memory. These grand affects of the inability to fulfill a pillar, ultimately affects the nurses life as well as the lives that surround him or her. Being able to fulfill every aspect of the pillars of health is very important to the well-being of an individual, and as they are able to be more and more successful in each pillar, it will allow them to live a very healthy and happy life.

 

Nutrition Tracker

             Looking over what I have eaten over the past three days, I realized that while eating more "healthy" foods I'm not consuming the basic calorie intake.While consuming the basic- protein, fruit and vegetables, and whole grains- I don't consume close to the "normal" amount of calories for how much I workout within a week. Considering that I have recently cut out most processed sugars- chocolate, candy, and soda- and started eating more healthy foods, now I just need to find a way to explore other healthy foods in order to maintain a healthy diet. On a day to day basis, it seems as though I consume more of one macromolecule than the other. The first day, I consumed much more protein and fruit rather than vegetables and whole grains; the second day,  I ate mainly protein and grains over vegetables and fruit; and the third day, the only main category that was significantly larger was fruit. Going forward, I will need to find a daily balance in order for my body to receive the necessary nutrients and minerals. In ways to improve my daily balance, I will need to watch and make sure that I'm not over consuming in one category over another; for example: day one, eating more whole grains such as brown rice, quinoa, or oatmeal, as for day two, simply consuming more fruits and vegetables- apples, grapes, or broccoli- would fix the balance, and finally day three consuming more of the others- protein, vegetables, and whole grain- will balance my intake of nutrients and minerals.
            If I had the opportunity to help someone with their proper health and nutrition, rather than telling them what to eat and what they "can't" eat, the most important thing for them to know is balance and moderation. Balancing and moderation are much more effective because not every single individual can swear automatically off of foods that they have consumed for years. Rather than consuming a large amount of unhealthy foods, consuming less unhealthy and more healthy will greatly improve their diets.

Health Collage

           In regards to the five pillars of health: nutrition, exercise, sleep, social, and stress, my strongest pillars would be exercise and social. These two are particularly my strengths because I love to exercise and have for as long as I could remember, partially because I have been doing a physically demanding sport-gymnastics- that demands a strong body in order to succeed. As for my weaker pillars-sleep, stress, and nutrition- it is more difficult to constantly make good eating choices, especially around friends, and as for both stress and sleep, those both go hand in hand. They both are dramatically affected by my academic life, and often times my sleep will be only four to five hours each night, and my stress can be overwhelming at times due to the tremendous amount of things needing to be done. In health in general, I am looking forward to finding ways to improve all of my pillars and live a healthy lifestyle.