Blood Pressure Virtual 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?

Lack of exercise, a high-salt diet, family history, and alcohol consumption are factors known to cause an increase in blood pressure.

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.

Many younger children, ages 11-17, do not drink therefore their alcohol consumption is very low or nothing. Because of this, their blood pressure would be lower than men of age group 25-44 because they drink more.  Also students males and females, ages 18-24, might eat a greater amount of high sodium foods and drink more alcohol therefore causing high blood pressure.

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

People with chronic hypertension may develop coronary artery disease; congestive heart failure; kidney failure; aneurysm; stroke or other health problems.

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

I observed that men in the 35-54 age category are in the highest risk for hypertension. There were four out of the ten men who had high risk of hypertension, all with various clear indicators as reasons for a high blood pressure. One guy checked for alcohol consumption and lack of exercise. One guy checked for high salt diet and another had a family history of hypertension ( the age range seems reasonable as this is the most likeliest time for genetic conditions to take affect, show symptoms.)  In the 45-54 age range, half the men had a high risk for hypertension and two guys had all of the indicators checked. On the other hand, only three women age range 35-54 had high risk for hypertension.

5. 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?

The results did not support my hypothesis that students males and females, ages 18-24, eat a greater amount of high sodium foods and drink more alcohol therefore causing high blood pressure. The older one gets the higher at risk he/she is for getting high blood pressure and it is most common in older males. Bad decisions made as students affect you when you get older and still maintain a lifestyle of bad choices.

6. 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?

There was only one female, age range 18-24 with a blood pressure of  135/95 because she checked for high sodium diet and alcohol consumption.

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

Based on my results those who checked for high sodium diets had higher blood pressure, which is why I believe that is the greatest risk factor that is most closely associated with hypertension.

8. 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?

Additional fat tissue in the body needs oxygen and nutrients in order to live, which requires the blood vessels to circulate more blood to the fat tissue. This increases the workload of the heart because it must pump more blood through additional blood vessels. More circulating blood also means more pressure on the artery walls. Higher pressure on the artery walls increases the blood pressure. In addition, extra weight can raise the heart rate and reduce the body's ability to transport blood through the vessels. Obesity alone does not cause a person to be at risk for high blood pressure. Many factors can cause high blood pressure, including stress, high levels of sodium, lack of calcium, lack of potassium from eating too little fruits and vegetables, and lack of physical activity.

Measuring Blood Pressure and Pulse

Blood pressure us a measure of the force exerted by the blood on the wall of the arteries. Systolic pressure is the result of the contraction of the ventricles (normal 110-140). Diastolic pressure is measured during the ventricle relaxation period (normal 70-90). My average systolic pressure is 110 and my average diastolic pressure is 75, so my blood pressure is 110/75. The equipment we used to measure blood pressure was a sphygmonometer and a stethoscope. The equipment I used to measure pulse (heart rate) was my hand to measure the radial(wrist) and carotid(neck) pulse rate and the stethoscope to measure the the heart pulse on the chest. We cannot use the the thumb pulse because the thumb has its own pulse that can disturb the regular heart pulse.   A sphygmonometer can be used by tying the cuff around the upper arm and then pump the air bulb until you see on the gauge reads 150. Slowly let go of the air until it you can hear a swooch, that is your systolic pressure and then when you can hear nothing that is your diastolic pressure.

Unit 2 Health Reflection

What is health? There are five pillars of health; they are nutrition, the nutrients needed to support growth and energy needs: exercise, using body to give energy and stave off disease: sleep, rest and restore body: stress, managing constant changes to body and mind: and social, the way we interact within our environment. On a scale of one to ten, one being the worst and ten being the best, I would rate myself a seven and the rest of SHS the same, a seven. Yes, we are able to wake up each morning and carry on with school and turn in our assignments but most of us are unable to fully concentrate during class, and that is because most of us don't get enough sleep (one of the pillars of health), a common problem among teenagers. One way to promote greater health and wellness on campus would be to encourage students to get more sleep. Students should not be awake at three in the night and they should get to sleep by twelve the latest. But unfortunately this is easier said then done because of the large workload many students at SHS have.
One of the major essential understandings of this unit is that hormones like insulin, leptin, glucagon, and cortisol are chemicals messengers that help regulate body mechanisms, maintain homeostasis and thus keeping one healthy. The six classes of nutrients include carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, vitamins, minerals, and water. The amount of nutrients we need varies based on age, sex, body type, activity level, and health status. Regular physical activity reduces risks of many adverse health outcomes and that if you do opt for a greater intensity workout, you can do less of it to gain the benefits. Sleep is a sensory shutdown and is immediately reversible. During sleep your body releases hormones essential for growth and development, that is why kids need more sleep, and sleep is also necessary to cope with the day's stresses. There are three stages of stress, alarm phase, resistance phase, and exhaustion phase.
Through this unit, I have learned that there are so many things I can do keep up health. For example I could choose foods rich in fiber, high in Omega-3, and much more proteins than what I am eating now. Before this unit, I hadn't known that Omega-3 is important for brain and heart health. The only type of exercise I get is Bollywood dancing that I do for only about three to four hours a week. Bollywood dancing is a form of aerobic exercise and I need to do more yoga anaerobic exercise and more muscle-strengthening workouts. Also I wouldn't hurt for me to sleep in an extra hour or two over the weekends to make up my sleep debt over the week.
I still don't understand that if the body secretion of oxytocin helps the body reduce stress, why do women release oxytocin, the adrenalin needed to push, when giving birth? Doesn't that add to the stress of physical labor?
For the next unit I will ask more questions during the lecture to build upon the information released and help me relate it to real life issues.
In the article, " A Long Night's Journey into the Day," the author describes sleep as something that is like a switch and that once you are asleep and dreaming you won't be able to realize that you are dreaming. I, along with some of my friends, have experienced lucid dreaming; we are able to realize that we are dreaming, we are sleeping and so this contradicts what the article said.

My health goals are to get more sleep and eat more protein and dairy.
Actions I will take to achieve my goals is to sleep more on the weekends and drink milk and  add beans and tofu to my diet.
My healthy life is important to me because I wish to have good health far onto my 30s and 40s. Good health means more happiness.
I will know when I reached my goals when I start gaining muscle mass and not abdominal fat and feel more alert and awake during the day.

Monday Wellness Reflection

I thought having a Monday wellness about probiotics would be something interesting and new for the class students because we would have them taste homemade yogurt. I was inspired to do this idea because ever since I was young my mom used to make homemade yogurt and I found it really interesting how milk could become a solid from a liquid just by heating it. The process of heating the milk is necessary to change the protein structure in milk so it sets as a solid instead of separating. This process of heating and then gives the chance for the milk to ferment and by adding a live culture, from a previous yogurt sample, the milk will transform into yogurt, The yogurt now has new properties that include taste, texture, and scientific benefits.  I also find it fascinating that my family has been using the same ongoing culture for decades, from great-grandparents to me. We got it from India in 1998, when I was born, and that's when the India culture mixed with American milk. Because of this I feel like the culture has brought this kind of unity among my extended family, who also use the same culture. By using a small spoonful of the previous batch of yogurt and mixing it into the heated milk before it solidifies you are preserving the culture, a piece of your past.
While I was researching the probiotics, the most interesting thing I found was the some of the indirect benefits of it. I hadn't known yogurt could help in allergies and asthma. I found it cool and ironic that yogurt helps with lactose intolerance and then I found out that it helps build immunity to lactose if taken in small doses.  Learning about the benefits of yogurt is really beneficial for our class in terms of health and wellness because most students don't acknowledge probiotics as part their diet, when it is really essential to keep your digestive and excretory systems clean and healthy. A lot of students also eat junk foods, like fatty foods or preservatives, and yogurt can help cleanse all the toxins from the stomach from the bad ones. The "good" bacteria will help fight off the "bad" bacteria. I also found it interesting that most store bought yogurts do not in fact contain the active cultures homemade yogurts and even if they do they contain so many preservatives and artificial colors and sugars that it kills culture thus negating its benefits.
On the scale of 1-10, I would rate myself a 7 because our presentation did not go as I hoped. I hadn't known how hard it would be to make yogurt in class; it a difficult process that requires a lot of home utensils and things that a laboratory class does not have. Plus the making of yogurt is not specially an interactive one, a lot of it is just waiting around. It was hard to come up with other ideas for in class discussion and activities relating to probiotics. I fell like as presenters we ran out of ideas to engage the audience, but I genuinely was interested about the topic.
Through my research I also figured out that there are other types of probiotics like sauerkraut, miso soup, and even some cheeses that provide the same benefits as yogurt. I wish to try them in the future and be aware of its benefits.