Preventing chronic diseases in the future! (HOW)

The best way to prevent chronic and normal diseases is to exercise and live in a healthy lifestyle. Here are some examples of how to do that: 

Aerobic Exercise

Aerobic or cardiovascular exercise, a term attributed to this kind of exercise because of its various benefits in cardiovascular health, refers to exercise that involves or improves oxygen consumption by the body. Aerobic means "with oxygen", and refers to the use of oxygen in the body's metabolic or energy-generating process. Many types of exercise are aerobic, and by definition are performed at moderate levels of intensity for extended periods of time. This intensity can vary from 50-80% of maximum heart rate.

• Stronger heart: the heart muscle is strengthened and enlarged, to improve its pumping efficiency and reduce the resting heart rate.
• Increase of the total number of red blood cells in the body, to facilitate transport of oxygen throughout the body.
• Improved breathing: the muscles involved in respiration are strengthened, to facilitate the flow of air in and out of the lungs.
• Improved muscle health: Aerobic exercise stimulates the growth of tiny blood vessels (capillaries) in muscles. This helps our bodies more efficiently deliver oxygen to muscles, can improve overall circulation and reduce blood pressure and remove irritating metabolic waste products such as lactic acid from the muscles.
• Weight loss: Combined with a healthy diet and appropriate strength training, aerobic exercise may help lose weight.
• Disease reduction: Extra weight is a contributing factor to conditions such as heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, diabetes and some forms of cancer. As weight loss occurs, the risk of developing these diseases decreases. In addition, weight-bearing aerobic exercise, such as walking, can reduce the risk of osteoporosis and its complications. Low-impact aerobic exercises, such as swimming, cycling and pool exercises, can help keep fit in those who have arthritis, without putting excessive stress on joints.
• Improved immune system: People who exercise regularly are less susceptible to minor viral illnesses such as colds and flu. It is possible that aerobic exercise helps activate your immune system and prepares it to fight off infection.
• Improved mental health: Regular aerobic exercise releases endorphins, our bodies’ natural painkillers. Endorphins also reduce stress, depression and anxiety.
• Increased stamina: Exercise may make us feel tired in the short term, i.e., during and right after the activity, but over the long term it will increase stamina and reduce fatigue.

Anaerobic exercise

Anaerobic exercise is the type of exercise that enhances power and builds muscle mass. Muscles trained under anaerobic conditions develop differently, leading to greater performance in short duration, high intensity activities, which last up to about 2 minutes.

The most common form of anaerobic exercise is strength exercise. Strength exercise is the use of resistance to muscular contraction to build the strength, anaerobic endurance and size of skeletal muscles. There are many different methods of strength training, the most common of which are weight and resistance exercise. These two types of exercise use gravity through weight stacks, plates or dumbbells, or machines to oppose muscle contraction, and the terms can be used interchangeably.

When properly performed, strength training can provide significant functional benefits and improvement in overall health and well-being including increased bone, muscle, tendon and ligament strength, toughness and endurance, improved joint function, reduced potential for injury resulting from weak muscles, improved cardiac function and elevated “good” HDL-cholesterol. It can also help maintain lean body mass (important for individuals attempting weight loss), decrease the risk of osteoporosis and develop coordination and balance.

Flexibility exercise

such as streching imporve the range of motion of muscles and joints.

Skin Cancer and Osteoporosis: risk factors of getting it

Skin cancer is the abnormal growth of skin cells that most often develops on skin that is exposed to the sun, although it can also occur on areas of skin that are not ordinarily exposed to sunlight. It begins in the epidermis. There are three main types of skin cancer: basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma and melanoma, depending on which type of cell in the epidermis is mutated.

How to know if I'm at risk of getting cancer? 

• A lighter natural skin color.
• Family history of skin cancer.
• A personal history of skin cancer.
• Exposure to the sun through work and play.
• A history of sunburns, especially early in life.
• A history of indoor tanning.
• Skin that burns, freckles, reddens easily, or becomes painful in the sun.
• Blue or green eyes.
• Blond or red hair.
• Certain types and a large number of moles.

What happens if I get a tan?  

Ultraviolet (UV) rays come from the sun or from indoor tanning (using a tanning bed, booth, or sunlamp to get tan). When UV rays reach the skin’s inner layer, the skin makes more melanin. Melanin is the pigment that colors the skin. It moves toward the outer layers of the skin and becomes visible as a tan.

A tan does not indicate good health. A tan is a response to injury, because skin cells signal that they have been hurt by UV rays by producing more pigment.

People burn or tan depending on their skin type, the time of year, and how long they are exposed to UV rays. The six types of skin, based on how likely it is to tan or burn, are—

1. Always burns, never tans, sensitive to UV exposure.
2. Burns easily, tans minimally.
3. Burns moderately, tans gradually to light brown.
4. Burns minimally, always tans well to moderately brown.
5. Rarely burns, tans profusely to dark.
6. Never burns, deeply pigmented, least sensitive.

Although everyone’s skin can be damaged by UV exposure, people with skin types I and II are at the highest risk.

Positive and Negative Feedback Systems

The body can regulate its internal environment through feedback systems. A feedback system is a cycle of events in which the status of a body condition is monitored, evaluated, changed, remonitored, reevaluated and so on. Each monitored variable, such as body temperature, blood pressure, or blood glucose level, is called a controlled condition. Any disruption that changes a controlled condition is called a stimulus

A feedback system has three basic parts: a receptor, a control center, and an effector. A receptor is a body structure such as a nerve ending or sensory receptor that monitors changes in a controlled condition and sends input, usually in the form of a nerve impulse or chemical signal, to a control center, which in the body is typically the brain. A control center sets the range of values within which a controlled condition should be maintained, evaluates the input it receives, and generates output commands, usually in the form of nerve impulses, hormones, or other chemical signals.

An effector is a body structure, such as a muscle or gland that receives output from the control center and produces a response or effect that changes the controlled condition. Almost every organ or tissue in the body can behave as an effector. Specific examples include muscle and glands.

Negative feedback mechanisms

Almost all homeostatic control mechanisms are negative feedback mechanisms. These mechanisms change the variable back to its original state or “ideal value”.

A good example of a negative feedback mechanism is a home thermostat (heating system). The thermostat contains the receptor (thermometer) and control center. If the heating system is set at 70 degrees Fahrenheit, the heat (effector) is turned on if the temperature drops below 70 degrees Fahrenheit. After the heater heats the house to 70 degrees Fahrenheit, it shuts off effectively maintaining the ideal temperature.

The control of blood sugar (glucose) by insulin is another good example of a negative feedback mechanism. When blood sugar rises, receptors in the body sense a change . In turn, the control center (pancreas) secretes insulin into the blood effectively lowering blood sugar levels. Once blood sugar levels reach homeostasis, the pancreas stops releasing insulin.

Positive feedback mechanisms
A positive feedback mechanism is the exact opposite of a negative feedback mechanism. With negative feedback, the output reduces the original effect of the stimulus. In a positive feedback system, the output enhances the original stimulus. A good example of a positive feedback system is child birth. During labor, a hormone called oxytocin is released that intensifies and speeds up contractions. The increase in contractions causes more oxytocin to be released and the cycle goes on until the baby is born. The birth ends the release of oxytocin and ends the positive feedback mechanism.

Another good example of a positive feedback mechanism is blood clotting. Once a vessel is damaged, platelets start to cling to the injured site and release chemicals that attract more platelets. The platelets continue to pile up and release chemicals until a clot is formed.

Just remember that positive feedback mechanisms enhance the original stimulus and negative feedback mechanisms inhibit it.

Integumentary and Skeletal Muscular System

Functions of Muscular Tissue

Through sustained contraction of alternating contraction and relaxation, muscular tissue has several functions which include: producing body movements, such as walking and running, or localized movements such as grasping a pencil; stabilizing body positions, which maintain body positions such as standing or sitting, or maintain your head upright;storing substances within the body, which is obtained by ring like bands of smooth muscle called sphincters, that prevent the outflow of the contents of a hollow organ; moving substances within the body, such as the cardiac muscle in the heart that pumps blood through the blood vessels of the body; and generating heat, which is used to maintain normal body temperature. Involuntary contractions of skeletal muscle, known as shivering, can increase the rate of heat production (Tortora & Derrickson, 2006).

Properties of Muscular Tissue

Muscular tissue has four properties that enable it to function and contribute to homeostasis, which are electrical excitability, contractility, extensibility and elasticity. Electrical excitability is a property of both muscle and nerve cells that allow them to respond to certain stimuli by producing electrical signals called action potentials. For muscle cells, two types of stimuli trigger actions potentials, one being the autorhythmic electrical signals arising in the muscular tissue itself, such as the heart’s pacemaker; and the other being chemical stimuli like the neurotransmitters released by neurons or like hormones that are distributed by the blood 

To know about the Integumentary System here's a video that explains it in a simple way: 

Body Tissues

A tissue is a group of similar cells that work together to carry out a specific function. Body tissues can be classified into four basic types according to their function and structure: Epithelial tissue, connective tissue, muscular tissue and nervous tissue.

Epithelial tissue or epithelium consists of tightly packed cells that form a continuous layer. Because the cells are closely packed, and are held tightly together by many cell junctions, there is little intercellular space between adjacent plasma membranes.

The various surfaces of epithelial cells differ in structure and have specialized functions. The apical (free) surface of an epithelial cell faces the body surface, a body cavity, the lumen (interior space) of an internal organ, or a tubular duct that receives cell secretions. Apical surfaces may contain cilia or microvilli. The cilia sweep substances along the surface of the epithelium, for example, ciliated epithelium in the lining of the bronchial tubes sweep impurities along the surface of the bronchial tubes away from the lungs, while microvilli on the surface of epithelial cells increases the surface area of the cell and in the case of the epithelial cells lining the small intestines, the microvilli increase the rate of absorption of nutrients across the cell.

Connective tissue is one of the most abundant and widely distributed tissues in the body. In its various forms, connective tissue has a variety of functions. It binds together, supports, and strengthens other body tissues; protects and insulates internal organs; compartmentalizes structures such as skeletal muscles; serves as the major transport system with in body (blood); is the primary location of stored energy reserves (fat); and is the main source of immune responses.

General characteristics of connective tissue

Connective tissue has cells that are widely separated by a matrix, which is a noncellular material that is made up of a ground substance and fibers. The matrix is usually secreted by the connective tissue cells and determines the tissue’s quality. The ground substance is the component of the connective tissue between the cells and fibers; it may vary in consistency from solid to jellylike to fluid. For example, in cartilage, the ground substance of the matrix is firm but pliable, whereas in bone, it is hard and inflexible. A nonfluid matrix may have fibers of three possible types. Collagen fibers contain collagen, a protein that gives them flexibility and strength. Reticular fibers are very thin collagen fibers that are highly branched and form delicate supporting networks. Elastic fibers contain elastin, a protein that is not as strong as collagen but more elastic.

In contrast to epithelia, connective tissues do not usually occur on body surfaces, and are highly vascular, that is they are a rich blood supply, with the exception of cartilage, which is avascular, and tendons, which have a scant blood supply. Connective tissue also has its own nerves, again with the exception of cartilage.

Muscle Tissue

Muscle tissue consists of elongated cells called muscle fibers that use ATP to generate force. As a result, muscular tissue produces body movements, maintains posture, and generates heat. It also provides protection. There are three types of muscular tissue based on its location, structure and function: skeletal muscle tissue, cardiac muscle tissue and smooth muscle tissue.

Nervous Tissue

Nervous tissue consists of two cell types, neurons and neuroglia, and is present in the brain and spinal cord. A neuron is a specialized cell that has three parts; a cell body, dendrites, and an axon. The cell body contains most of the cytoplasm and the nucleus of the neuron. Dendrites are short, highly branched processes that branch off of the cell body, and they are the major receiving or input part of the neuron, and they conducts signals towards the cell body.

Anatomical Terms

First, to know more about this, you should know the definitions. Anatomy is the science that studies body structures and the relationships among them. Physiology is the science that studies body functions or how the body parts work. To be able to describe the body’s structure, it is necessary to use special terms that everyone understands to communicate clearly and precisely. 

These are the body positions: 

Anatomical, prone and supine are the main ones.

The body is divided also with somehting called regional names, here is a picture to show an example of them: 

To explain this easily, here's a youtube video that explains everything you need to know about anatomical terms and what are the use of them:

And last but not least we have the body planes, they are imaginary flat surfaces that are used to divide the body or organs to visualize interior structures. A sagittal plane is a vertical plane that divides the body or an organ into right and left sides. A midsagittal or median plane divides the body or organ into equal right and left sides, while a parasagittal plane divides them into unequal left and right sides. A frontal or coronal plane divides the body or organ into anterior and posterior parts.