Unit 5 Reflection

In this unit, I learned a lot of surprising things about our digestive systems and metabolism. The first interesting fact I learned was that our small intestine is actually the longest part of our digestive tract! I always thought that the small intestine was very small, because of its name. In class we measured out the length of our whole digestive tract and it spanned the length of the ceiling in our classroom. The reason why our alimentary canal is able to fit in our bodies is by folding itself and making itself more compact.

Another thing I learned about was diabetes and that there are two types of diabetes. Type one diabetes is when a person can't produce insulin and is usually diagnosed at a young age. Type 2 diabetes can be acquired and it is caused by insulin resistance. We read a chapter of a book explaining stress's effect on diabetes and the reading concluded that stress makes a diabetic's cells more insulin resistant. From this reading I also learned that stress can make people eat less or more; I am hyperphagic which means that when I am stressed I tend to eat more because of the glucocorticoid's effect on my body.

During this unit we also learned about metabolism and made a poster of one of the states. Our group did the starvation state and it helped us focus on one state and explain it to the rest of the class.
A couple things I still have questions about is how we can change the rate of our metabolism and why our stomach makes noises when we are hungry.

In my previous post I talk about my New Year's Goals for myself: http://nimishaapblog.blogspot.com/2016/01/new-years-goals-for-second-semester.html . Looking back on these goals, I did not do that well on making sleep a priority. I have been staying up pretty late because of my work load but I am managing my time fairly well; it's just a busy month. Through out this next unit I will focus more on getting things done earlier instead of waiting until the last minute.