Hypertension Lab

From http://www.mhhe.com/biosci/genbio/virtual_labs_2K8/labs/BL_14/

Follow the virtual lab procedure, and answer the questions below.  Answer in complete sentences. Please leave spaces between questions and your answers.

1. What factors are known to cause increases in blood pressure?

Factors that are known to increase blood pressure are a high salt diet, lack of exercise, too much consumption of alcohol, overweight, or genetic (a family history of high blood pressure) and smoking.

2. Use your knowledge about the heart and the circulatory system to make a hypothesis about how the average blood pressure for a group of people would be affected by manipulating the age and gender of the group members.

I believe that the older you are the higher blood pressure you will have. I believe that males that are older will have high blood pressure than older women. If you are a young adult/teenager and you don’t exercise and are overweight than you will probably have a high blood pressure.

3. What sorts of problems might a person develop who has chronic hypertension?

A person who has chronic hypertension may develop issue such as heart failure, kidney failure, heart attack, stroke, aneurysm, coronary artery disease and other health issues as well.

Analyze the result of your experiment. Explain any patterns you observed.

I saw a lot of older male and female that had high blood pressure. It was mainly from drinking, high salt diet and lack of exercise. There were a few kids that had high blood pressure from lack of exercise and from being over weight.

4. Did the result of your experiment support your hypothesis? Why or why not? Based on your experiment what conclusion can you draw about the relationship of age and gender to group blood pressure averages?

My hypothesis was pretty much correct. There were a lot of older male and females that had high blood pressure from being overweight, lack of exercise or from drinking too much.

5. During the course of your experiment, did you obtain any blood pressure reading that were outside of the normal range for the group being tested? What did you notice on the medical charts for these individuals that might explain their high reading?

Yes, there were a few that were pretty high and out of range, after looking at their charts the most common side effects were from being overweight, drinking too much, lack of exercise or a high salt diet.

6. List risk factors associated with the hypertension. Based on your observation, which risk factor do you think is most closely associated with hypertension?

You could lose your eyesight in one or even both eyes, it could cause a stroke, heart attack or aneurysm, it could also cause your liver, kidneys, heart and much more not to function properly.

7. What effect might obesity have on blood pressure? Does obesity alone cause a person to be at risk for high blood pressure? What other factors, in combination with obesity, might increase a person's risk for high blood pressure?

Obesity causes high blood pressure and it is usually is caused by a lack of exercise which causes you to be overweight. To much salt in diet, smoking, drinking too. much

8. List risk factors associated with the hypertension. Based on your observation, which risk factor do you think is most closely associated with hypertension?

heart attack, stroke, heart and kidney and liver failure, aneurysm, too much salt diet, lack of exercise, smoking, drinking, genetics. I think lack of exercise and a high salt diet are the most closely associated with hypertension.

Monday Wellness Snacking

The snack we just ate was apples with organic peanut butter and almonds. This snack was pretty healthy. I love apples but even though the peanut butter was organic, i still don't think it is all that healthy. I love the almonds i think they are a great source of protein and the healthy fat that your body needs.

You should snack 2-3 times a day. One in-between breakfast and lunch, and one in-between lunch and dinner. It should be a healthy snack around 200 hundred calories. It should be lower in carbs but higher in fiber and protein. You should stay away from foods that are processed, artificially flavored, have a lot of refined sugar. Good snacks to eat are fruit, veggies, almonds.

Monday Wellness

Pre and Post Workout Nutrition Reflection

There has always been the question debating wheatear it is good to eat before and after a workout. Well, it all depends on a few things: the intensity of the workout you are doing, the workout you are doing, your gender, and the person you are yourself. Not everybody can have food in their stomach before working out because they have the fear of getting cramps, nausea, and other symptoms. But, it has been proven that eating before a workout can cause your body not to function at its best and can cause symptoms such as lightneadness, fatigue, low blood sugar, and even wicked cramps. You will feel more tired and less motivated to keep going the remainder of your workout.

I choose this topic because I myself am a runner, and I struggle finding out what I can eat before I run. I wanted to see if others suffered the same issues that I have. But you as a person need to try different foods and find what works best for you, because everybody is different and our bodies can and can’t handle the foods that others maybe able too.

They say that if you are doing a high intensity workout you should eat 90 minutes before you start. But you should be eating a full mean 3-4 hours before your workout that should have lean proteins and carbs in it. You need all the energy you can get to preform at the level you want and the duration you want.

I think on a scale of 1 to 10 I would give my self an 8.5 for this project. I think an 8.5 would be a fair grade for the time and effort I put into this project/topic. This topic called for quite a bit of research to find an adequate amount of information. I didn’t just look at one site, I look and several and tried to find details that was very similar or that stood out. Every sport wheatear it is football, hockey, basketball, swimming, running or even gymnastics they are all different intensity sports and call for different amounts of carbs, fats, proteins, sugars to be able to preform at the level you want. Not everybody is built the same and not everybody can preform at the same level so when it comes to pre-workout foods everybody in that sport should eat the food within the required standards but in different amounts.

The thing about this topic is that we need to have food in our body to have the energy we need to preform but are we eating the right foods that will give us the proper energy to perform for the time we want and give us the good intensity workout. For after workout foods we think that we just burned a ton of calories and that we can eat whatever we want. But the truth is we can’t eat whatever we want. We need to properly re- feed our body with foods that are high in lean proteins and carbs. Banana or chocolate milk is really good after workout foods because they have potassium and calcium, which we loose when we exercise. But they say what is most important is that you are hydrating constantly before and after your workout, especially after because you sweat out a ton of water and your body needs to replace what was lost.

Some cool things that i learned through this project is that your post workout nutrition is a little more so important than pre. Because you have burned a ton of calories and have lost a lot of your water weight, electrolytes, and other victims and minerals you have to replenish them properly. They also say that water should be the go do drink before you drink sports drinks or chocolate milk. Even after you workout don’t eat a full meal until 2 hours after, a small snack should be good (protein and carbs). For every pound you have lost in your work out, you should be drinking 2 cups of water to help your body recover faster.

Measuring Blood Pressure and Heart Rate

Systole and Diastolic are the numbers when taking blood pressure using a sphygnomanometer ( blood pressure cuff). Systolic is the top number of the blood pressure, its the first sound is the systolic, note the reading on the gauge. The Diastolic is the second time you hear a sound, its the bottom number of the blood pressure, note the gauge.  

When measuring heart rate you mostly use a stethoscope. You can also use your fingers to take your radial pulse rate which you take on your wrist, or you take your pulse carotid, by placing your fingers on your neck, a little under your ear. To measure blood pressure you use the stethoscope and a sphygmomanometer.

When taking your pulse using your thumb can be ineffective. Your thumb has a pulse its self which can cause counting confusion.

To use a blood pressure cuff correctly you put the cuff on the person arm tightly. Make sure that the tubes are running down the sides of their arm. Put the stethoscope on the side of their arm and put the round part a little shoved up into the cuff. With one hand pump the air bulb and with the other push on the round part of the stethoscope. Watch the gauge and pump till it gets to about 140-160. Slowly start to release the air, and listen for a "prrpshh" sound, and remember the number on the gauge, and wait for the second time you hear that same sound a record. The first time you hear the sound is the Systole and the second time you hear it, it is the diastolic. 

	Haley	Taylor	Average
Pulse rate (radial)	65	64	65
Pulse Rate ( carotid)	75	65	70
Stethoscope	68	50	59
Average	69	60	65

	Haley	Taylor
Blood Pressure (test 1)	120/55	125/60
Blood Pressure ( test 2)	120/60	135/80

What is Health? 

      Health is ones' mental and physical well-being. To be in good health you need to follow the 5 pillars to a healthy life style. The 5 pillars of health you should follow are nutrition, exercise, stress, sleep and social. 

      I think I am overall pretty healthy. I think a majority of people are healthy at SHS, but if I could change one thing to promote better health and wellness on campus would be the food sold in the cafeteria. They sell a lot of foods but a majority of the food is terrible for your body. 

     The themes and essential understandings from this unit had to be the 5 pillars of health, and based of each of those pillars connected back to a healthy lifestyle. 

      I learned that stress is not good on your health, and sleep is VERY important because it regenerates your body but if you keep depriving your body of sleep you will not be able to catch up and come out of the hole of no sleep. I learned about different exercise and how each one is beneficial to your body. I also learned about intensity levels and how you know if you are pushing yourself to your limits. There is nothing that i do not still understand fully, its pretty straight forward. The thing i did have trouble understanding in the beginning was with sleep, reading the graphs on the Astronauts Lab and deterring what type of sleep they were in. 

       On the next unit i think i could improve by asking for help sooner than later, and asking questions during lectures if i want to know something in further detail. 

        A real world application to health could be a dietitian/nutritionist, this relates to health because they are specialized in teaching people how to live a healthy lifestyle. They help people change their current lifestyles and help them make it better so they can live a happier and healthier life. 

http://winhealthplans.com/news/what-it-really-means-to-be-healthy#sthash.iBIiKlsH.dpbs