Unit 5 Reflection

In this Unit, our main goal was to learn about the different systems in the body that aided in absorption, digestion, and balance. The digestive system opened our eyes into how the body consumed and absorbed food, and we learned the important difference between digestion and absorption. Digestion is the mechanical or chemical breakdown of food, while absorption is the taking in of nutrients, usually into the bloodstream.

Once the nutrients were taken in, we focused on what happens to the body from there. We explored fuel metabolism, specifically, the Fed state, Fasting state, and Starvation state. Each of these states has a different way of processing and generating ATP, depending on how long it's been since you've consumed food. In order to further cement these ideas, we created posters about each of the states.

From there, we learned about the different diseases that can plague the digestive system and the balance that it creates. By learning about diseases such as diabetes, we were able to compare dysfunctional and functional systems in order to get a better understanding and compare the two. In addition, we were able to explore the difference between Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. It was interesting to see how Type 2 was much more common that Type 1, even though Type 1 was the autoimmune disorder. It really showed how in American/ international culture, our eating habits are so unhealthy that our body starts to break down and can't perform homeostasis correctly.

Further going off the topic of homeostasis, we explored the endocrine and lymphatic systems and the effect's that the hormones and lymph released have on our body.  It was confusing at first, and I ended up mixing up some of the endocrine and lymphatic hormones, like the thyroid and the thymus. Although I think the main reason for this mix up might have been because I didn't follow with my New Year's Goals. If I had gotten the proper amount of rest, and had studied for the quiz in advance like i promised I would, I doubt that I would have made that mix up. But I know that for the future, I'll never confuse thymus and thyroid again :)

Digestive System Lab

1. My main takeaways from this lab was the how long the digestive system was and how much of it consisted of the small intestine. From the name, you wouldn't expect the small intestine to be the largest/longest part of the digestive system, but when measured, it turned out to be 4 times our height, while the large intestine length measured to be approx. our height.

2. My digestive system in total is about 9 meters long, which is about 30 feet. This is almost six times my height. I think that the digestive system is able to fit inside of your body because it is folded over so many times, and then sort of squished down and coiled up to fit in the allocated space.

3. I think it takes about 9 hours for food to move through your body. After checking online, it turns out that it actually takes about 24 to 72 hours for food to move through your entire body, and 9 hours alone for it to go through your stomach and small intestine. It then spends majority of the time in the large intestine.


4. Digestion is different than absorption. Digestion is the mechanical and chemical breaking down of food into smaller components that can be absorbed into a blood stream, while absorption is when nutrients from ingested food are absorbed. Absorption happens primarily in the small intestine, while digestion happens mainly in the stomach.


5.I think that it would be interesting to learn in greater detail about how nutrients are absorbed and how the stomach breaks down the bolus.

Goals for the New Year

For my New Year’s Resolution’s, I want to focus on being able to improve myself both inside and outside of my classes. One of my goals for outside the class is that I will take more risks and put myself out there more, instead of letting any potential drawbacks prevent me from doing something that I want to do, no matter how improbable that risk is. To start doing this, I’m going to start inside the class by participating more, which I sometimes find difficult because I’m often afraid that I won’t be contributing anything substantial. I’ll likely start with trying to contribute at least one time in class per day, and from there increase number of times when I feel comfortable.

Inside the class, specifically, in Anatomy, I will stop procrastinating when it comes to homework and tests. I will do the homework the day that it is assigned, and I will study for tests at least a week before so I can review properly, instead of saving last minute review for the day before and losing sleep because of my poor planning. I think that using flashcards as a way of studying and reviewing ahead of time would help me as well, since I know it’s a technique that works for me, but is often left behind in the mad dash to review everything on the day before.