Unit 3 Reflection

The heart my group drew in chalk.

This unit was all about the circulatory system and transporting nutrients around the body and the different things that happen when parts of it malfunction or are blocked. All systems in the body are connected and many are connected to the circulatory system. The center of it is the heart which pumps blood into the arteries to send around the body and to the lungs. The heart is a large muscle made of cardiac muscle tissue that has its own sort of brain called the SA Node that controls the rhythm. To have a healthy circulatory system, blood needs to be able to flow without stress throughout the body and the heart needs to beat regularly. Atherosclerosis is when plaque builds up in the arteries, making the path for blood to flow through smaller, putting more pressure on the artery walls. Heart attacks and strokes occur when the heart stops functioning normally because of a blood clot in the coronary artery or in the brain causing the heart to stop functioning. 

The keep a healthy circulatory system and also respiratory system because the oxygen our blood transports come from our lungs there are a few thing to keep in mind. As always, eating healthy and exercise are hugely beneficial for your system because it keeps your blood flowing nicely and helps prevent clots form forming in the blood stream. Another major thing is don't smoke! The nicotine in cigarettes are a vasoconstrictor making your heart work harder to transport blood around and also it hurts your lungs, a lot. 

This unit I loved learning about the many different parts of the heart and their purposes. I find naming all the different structures in the heart fascinating and seeing how they connect. One thing I struggled with was the different types of blood cells and also keeping heart attacks and strokes straight. In many ways they are similar but they are very different and I kept confusing them. Dissecting the sheep heart was very informative because it showed that hearts are perfect like in drawings, they are actual 3D objects that aren't color coded. I am to, for the rest of the semester, to make sure I find the connections in how everything relates back to health because that is were I am struggling.