Health is a measure of our body's efficiency and overall well-being. The 5 aspects of life that contribute to a healthy lifestyle are stress, exercise, nutrition, sleep, and social interaction. A good analogy to explain health is that the 5 aspects listed are like 5 pillars of health. I learned in this unit how anytime one pillar is lacking, the others make up for it to ensure that the health of the body "stays standing." Ideally, if a person takes care of all 5 pillars, their overall well-being will be in optimal condition, which is why people should be sure to pay attention to all of the pillars. One very important aspect of being healthy is having healthy hormones - the "big 4" are insulin, leptin, glucagon, and cortisol. These hormones work together to maintain optimal glucose levels inside the body and control our biological cycles. The four keys to maintaining a healthy life style, even when you follow all of the suggestions from doctors and scientists, are adequacy, variety, moderation, and balance in everything you do. Don't stress, exercise, eat, sleep, or socialize too much or too little - do them all in moderation. The first pillar of health, stress, has three main stages: alarm, resistance, and exhaustion. The alarm phase refers to when a person's body pumps adrenaline to trigger the "fight or flight" response in reaction to some immediate stimulus. The second phase, resistance, refers to the body's reaction to long term stress, which may result in damage to the body. The last phase of stress, exhaustion, is the most extreme phase and can eventually even lead to death. Another pillar of health - exercise - deals with the intensity of workouts involving muscle-strengthening, bone-strengthening, aerobic, and flexibility-improving exercises. To uphold the third pillar, nutrition, it is important to maintain a balanced diet filled with vitamins and minerals. It's also important to get a sufficient amount of sleep during the night, especially REM sleep, because that is actually when your brain is most active and it is the time when your body repairs itself. Lastly, to maintain the fifth and final pillar, one must be socially active. As demonstrated by the Social Readings we discussed, being socially active can prevent many future diseases and contribute to a person's overall good health.
From the activities in this unit, I learned that I am overall pretty healthy. I need to, however, start eating healthier, sleep longer, and learn to manage my stress better. In order to do this, I will start paying attention to the nutrition facts and ingredients in the foods I eat, I will try to eat a more balanced diet, I will try to start sleeping earlier and nap when I'm tired, and I will work on my time management to reduce my stress. A healthy life is important to me because maintaining all the pillars of life will help me live longer and better and stay away from diseases like diabetes and heart problems. To promote health and wellness on campus, teachers should find a way to coordinate when big tests like Midterms and Projects in other classes are and do their best to make sure their tests and projects do not overlap with those in other classes. In addition, students should learn to procrastinate less. By managing their time better, they will not only be able to sleep earlier, but also reduce their stress. My biggest problem, by far, is definitely sleep. Here is a Tedtalk that I came across by Arianna Huffington entitled, "How to succeed? Get more sleep" that discusses just this - why we should sleep longer rather than brag about our sleep deficit: https://www.ted.com/talks/arianna_huffington_how_to_succeed_get_more_sleep.
Throughout this unit, I understood most of the "big picture" concepts thoroughly, but missed a couple days of class due to tennis matches. This put me behind in some of the labs and lectures, making it harder for me to see the bigger picture during the following class when we moved on to a new lecture. I still don't fully understand how the hormones like leptin and cortisol function in our bodies as they have many factors influencing them and have complex cycles. Next unit, I will try to miss less classes, stay organized with the lecture notes and paste them into my notebook as soon as I get home, and get more sleep at night so I will be more attentive in class.
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