The Last Blog

This is the last blog I am writing before summer vacation. We learned many things in Health class this year. There are three very important things I learned. One thing I learned is how to have a nutritious diet. I learned what foods have too many calories in them and how the Atkins diet works. The second thing I learned is how to help someone get over different addictions. You could send them to rehab or a support group. The third thing I learned is how to have fun outside. You could play sports and games like tag or running races.

One thing I liked was whenever a guest came to speak to the class. One thing I would change is doing certain projects like building things. One thing that surprised me was starting Health class because I thought we would be doing Careers class for the entire year. My two words of advice for this class is to stay healthy.

The Atkins Diet

The Atkins diet is a diet that was created to help people lose weight and get a healthier heart and better memory. It was created by Dr. Robert Atkins who said that people who are overweight eat too many carbohydrates. People on the Atkins diet lose weight by not eating foods with too many carbohydrates in them. The body then burns its own fat in a process called ketosis. When someone is in ketosis they get less hungry and don't eat as much food as they would. Ketosis can also cause side effects such as bad breath and constipation however. The diet says that when you eat too much sugar, the body creates insulin which tries to store the extra sugar in the liver. If the liver gets filled to the brim, the body tries to turn the sugar into fat and we get more weight than we lose. That way by getting rid of carbohydrates the body doesn't create fat and we weigh less.

There are four phases to the diet. The first phase is called Induction, the second phase is Ongoing Weight Loss or OWL, the third phase is Pre-maintenance, and the fourth phase is Lifetime maintenance. In the diet you can only eat 54 types of vegetables like brocoli and spinach a small amount of meat and 4 ounces of cheese.

Definitions

The next Health class assignment was to define words that have to do with nutrition. Here are the words I came up with and their definitions:

Carbohydrate- The energy that is broken down when you eat food. They are found in forms such as sugars or fibers. Carbohydrates produce 4 calories per gram.This definition is from www.medterms.com.

Cholesterol- Cholesterol is a substance that produces vitamin D and protects nerves. It also helps cell structure. It usually comes from the liver but it also comes from the food you eat. Too much of it can give you cardiovascular disease. This definition is from http://nutrition.about.com.

Diet- A diet is what people and animals eat and drink. A diet of unhealthy foods can make you sick and a diet of healthy foods can help you to live longer and give you energy to do more things. This definition is from www.allwords.com.

Fat- Fat is a nutrient in the body that is used for energy. It produces 9 calories per gram. Eating foods with too much fat can be bad for your health and it can clog your arteries. This definition is from www.medterms.com.

Food- Food is an item that is eaten to help you grow and prevent hunger. Some foods are full of vitamins and nutrients and others are full of sugar and starches. This definition is from www.merriam-webster.com.

Protein- A molecule that is used to help keep the cells in the body functioning and keep their structure. Most protein is found in meat products such as chicken and pork. It is even found in peanut butter. This definition is from www.medterms.com.

Saturated fats- These types of fat are the fat that is found in unhealthy foods such as butter, pork, and high fat cheese. Too much of it can cause high cholesterol which will also give you cardiovascular disease. This definition is from http://nutrition.about.com.

Trans fats- This type of fat is when fats from liquids are combined with fats from solids and hydrogen and made into one. Too much trans fats can cause high cholesterol and heart disease just like all other fats do. This definition is from www.thelabrat.com.

Unsaturated fats- Unsaturated fats are fats that are actually good for cholesterol instead of being bad for it. They are liquid when they are at room temperature and are found in nuts and olives. This definition is from http://cholesterol.about.com.

A Healthy Life

In Health class we had to make a top five list of ways you can make your life healthier from a list of suggestions on www.hhs.gov. One of the five things that I picked was that you should only take at least 20 to 35 percent of calories. The second thing I picked was to do a type of physical activity regularly. The third suggestion is eat fruits, vegetables, and whole grains with a lot of fiber most of the time. The website said that if you drink alcohol then women should have one drink a day and men should have two a day. The last suggestion I picked is to make food with only a little salt and eat foods with more potassium like fruits and vegetables. If you do the other suggestions that the website reccomends then you should be able to lead a healthier life.

Pros and Cons

There are reasons that people think it is okay to smoke and use drugs and reasons why they are not okay. In health class we had to find five reasons for both sides. Five reasons why people smoke and do drugs are that they think it's cool, they try them once and get addicted, they are dared to, they have a family history of smoking and using drugs, and they would get teased by other kids who use them and start doing it so the teasing would stop. Five reasons why smoking and drugs are bad for you are they can make you sick, you can die using them, your friends might not want to see you anymore, you can get in trouble with the police for using drugs, and smoking can make your clothes smell bad and it can be hard to get rid of.

Atherosclerosis

Atherosclerosis is a deposit of fatty substances that build up in the inside lining of a person's arteries. This causes heart attacks, strokes, and death. It is usually called plaque and it can get harder as people get older. If someone gets atherosclerosis, it can damage the arteries and it worsens if that person smokes. Some factors of the deposits are obesity, cigarettes, and high blood pressure. It can be hard to spot because some people don't show symptoms. You can prevent atherosclerosis by leading a healthy life of exercise and never smoking.

Drinking Reasons

In Health Class we had to find five reasons why we think teens drink and why drinking is wrong. I think that teens drink because they want to have others think that they are cool, they get depressed, everyone in their family does it, they grew up in a tough neighborhood, or they are dared to have some alcohol and are too afraid to lose. Five reasons for why it is not okay to drink are it ruins your liver, you can die from an overdose, you will not remember what you did while being drunk, you can hurt someone else, and you will probably get lost from your home.

Drug Abuse

On http://kidshealth.org there is a page with articles on certain hazards to your health. I went to that page and read an article on prescription drug abuse. I chose this article because I know about this risk. The article said that some people think that the drugs doctors prescribe are safe and they can use them even though they don't have symptoms the drugs help with. It is illegal and it can also hurt you or even kill you. The drugs are only safe for the patients the doctors prescribed them to. I learned that there are three classes in prescription drug abuse. They are Opioids, Central Nervous System (CNS) Depressants, and Stimulants. Opioids are used to help cure coughing, diarrhea and relieve pain. CNS Depressants are used to help anxiety, panic attacks, sleeping problems, and tension. Stimulants are used to help ADHD and narcolepsy.

Smoking Summary

We went to the website http://kidshealth.org and read an article on how smoking is bad. The article said that there are short term and long term affects to smoking. Some long term effects are that it makes people feel like their throat is burning and also throw up. Smoking can also cause cancer, strokes and heart disease. Some short term effects are that it causes bad skin and your breath and clothes smell bad. A statistic shows that 23% of high school students smoke. I think that this article did a good job of telling people not to smoke. I think that smoking is wrong and that people should stop doing it.

What we did this week

This week in health class, we talked about stress. We learned about ten ways that people deal with their emotions. They are denial, identification, compensation, rationalization, projection, daydreaming, displacement, reaction formation, regression, and sublimation. We also learned what usually stresses people out and how they can calm down.

Expressing Emotions Constructively

When people feel angry or sad some people let others know that they feel that way. Others try to keep it to themselves and not let others know. Sometimes people should let others know if they are feeling a certain way because that other person could give some advice. If someone wants to keep emotions to themselves they should find ways to let those emotions out without others knowing. On www.associatedcontent.com, they have tips on how to let anger out without hurting people. They say that you can scream into a pillow or hit a punching bag.

Where to go to stop suicide

If you or someone you know has thoughts of suicide, there are places you can go to for help. One place you can call is the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. They help people who call asking for help preventing a suicide and also help people that want help with mental health. They have more than 130 centers all over the country and callers are sent to the nearest center in the area they are in. Their number is 1-800-273-TALK(8255).

Another place to ask for help is the Suicide Awareness Voices of Education or SAVE. For 20 years they have gathered volunteers to help people realize that suicide is wrong. They teach people about what suicide is and get people to realize that it shouldn't be kept a secret. They also work with the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.

Warning Signs and Risk Factors

There is a difference between a warning sign and a risk factor to a threat. A warning sign would be a sign about something that could happen but there is enough time to stop it from happening. A risk factor is how someone might want to do something bad like suicide.

Warning signs of suicide could be that they are always talking about death, changing there will or calling people so they can say goodbye. Most signs are being depressed and also doing things that could kill them like running through traffic.

There are also plenty of risk factors to suicide. They could be people in their family tree could have committed suicide, having tried to commit it before, or keeping a weapon or firearm with them. They could also be abused at home or have mental differences.

Wrestling and Skin Disease

On March 12, the Grand Rapids Press had a story about a high school wrestler got disqualified because doctors thought that a dark spot on his chest was a skin disease. It was really a condition called hyperpigmentation, a condition that causes an area of skin that is darker than the surrounding skin. He was wrestling the whole season with the spot but was only disqualified for the championship fight. The officials went around the rules that say wrestlers don't need doctors to check the wrestlers before a match. If the spot isn't a skin disease and wrestled with it all season, I think he should have been allowed to continue.

What to stay away from

There are certain things that could be harmful to your health that people are around every day. They are UV light, asbestos, pesticides, and dirty air and water. UV lights are the rays that come from the sun. People use them to go suntanning during the summer. These lights can cause cancer, eye damage from looking at it for too long, they can break some connections in DNA because the DNA absorbs them, and they can also damage ocean life. People can avoid UV lights by putting on sunscreen at the beach and not tan for so long.

Asbestos are mineral that is found on almost every country. They are only dangerous when they break apart and float to the air. If they get inside your body they can cause tumors on the lungs, abdomen, and heart. Asbestos can be avoided by being careful when dealing with them so they don't break. Pesticides are a mixture of substances that people use to get rid of pests like bugs. They are dangerous because they can kill anything including humans. Pesticide cans could have warning labels put on them so they can be less of a risk.


Air and water are good for you because they help us stay alive. They get bad for you when people put gas in the air and trash in the ocean. Gas in the air can make it very hard to breathe. Trash in the ocean can make marine life sick and damage the water that comes out of sinks and showers. People are protesting about buildings and cars that use a lot of gas, and are trying to get people to find ways to places that doesn't use so much gas. There are also laws that say people can't throw their trash into the water.

Preventing diseases

The website, www.health.ri.gov says that there are ways to prevent diseases so you can stay healthy. You should wash your hands a lot during flu season after doing things like using the bathroom and blowing your nose, sneezing, and coughing, keep food refrigerated, wash fruits and vegetables, and wash beef until it isn't pink anymore. It also says you should use medicines the exact way the bottle says you should.

Why sleep is important

In health class we had to find out how much sleep is needed and why its important. Some reasons that sleeping is good for you are that lack of sleep puts you in a bad mood, causes a lot of stress, it can cause you to gain weight and it can help you remember things that could be useful for the next day like a test.

Goals

We are finishing up the safety lesson in health class, but before we do we have to wet a goal. My goal is to not be a bully and to try to stay away from violence. This way I will stay in less trouble and not have the police try to send me to jail.

Cyberbullying

We went to http://www.netsmartz.com and had to watch one of four videos that was posted on the website. I watched the video "Cyberbullying:You can't take it back part 2". It was about a boy who went on a website with his friend to rate the girls in his school. He thought it was a joke between him and his friend but the next day, the list was all over his school. There were girls who were upset over the list. His sister was also rated without his knowing and she stopped looking at him. The friend got suspended, and he might also get kicked out of school.

The boy shouldn't have gone on the website because his friend encouraged him. Now he is in a lot of trouble and he wishes he had never went there. If he knew his sister was rated he probably would have stopped this from happening. He should have realized what this would do to everyone before doing it.

What would you do?

In health class we heard a story about a girl who knew another girl that got pregnant with a man who wasn't her boyfriend. The girl's friend asked her what was wrong, then after hearing it decided to tell the boyfriend. The girl stopped him from doing that and decided to have someone else tell him. Then our teacher asked us what we would do if we were in that situation and I said I would probably try to tell someone.

Project Rehab

There is a program called Project Rehab that helps people get over addictions to drugs. It was founded in 1968 by Dr. Bill Kooistra and Dr. Chet Maternowski. Dr. Kooistra was inspired to found the program after a minister called to ask him to help someone get over their addiction to heroin. The two doctors decided to help other people who had addictions. In 2008, their website, http://www.projectrehab.org, posted forty of their success stories to celebrate 40 years of improving lives. One of their workers came to our school and we had to ask him two questions. I asked him how long he has been working there and does he like it there. You can learn mare about them by calling 776-0891 or going to their website that I mentioned.

Warning Signs

There are ways you can tell if a child you know is being bullied. Some of those signs are if they are afraid of going to sch00l, has unexplained injuries that they didn't have before school, has bad dreams frequently, and many other signs. If the bullying gets really bad then they might try to get out of going to school, may start thinking about suicide, and get depressed all the time. You can find out if your child is being bullied by talking to either them or their teachers.

Resources

We had to find three different resources in Michigan that help protect you from sexual violence and other abuses. One place you can go to is R.A.I.N.N. which stands for Rape Abuse & Incest National Network. They tell people what to do in case they are being sexually assaulted. You can get to them by going to their website at http://www.rainn.org.

R.A.I.N.N. also has a hotline called the National Sexual Assault Hotline. When someone is being assaulted, the victim can call their number to get help. You can call them at 1-800-656-HOPE. There is information about the hotline on the R.A.I.N.N. website mentioned above.

There is an organization called Springtide Resources that helps raise awareness against abuse to women. They help find ways to have people stop harassing women and protect them from abusers. You can call them at (416)968-3422. You can also go to their website at http://www.settlement.org.

Michigan laws about sexual harassment

In Michigan, there are laws that deal with sexual harassment. We found out what they are and what the penalties are on http://www.legislature.mi.gov. There are four degrees of harassment and the worst one is the first degree. The first three degrees are considered felonies and the fourth is a misdemeanor.

The first degree is when the abuse happens to someone under the age of 13, helped by someone, and had a weapon. The punishment is 25 years to life in jail without parole, or electronic monitoring. The second degree is like the first degree, only the punishment is up to 15 years, or electronic monitoring. The third degree is abuse between ages 13 and 16. The punishment is 15 years in prison. The fourth degree is when it happens to a relative and the punishment is prison for 2 years and a $500 fine.

These laws seem fair to me. People should realize that harassment is bad, and maybe these laws will help them realize that.

An Example of Bullying

There is an article about a boy who gets bullied a lot on nytimes.com. The boy from the article has been bullied since age 12. The bullies beat him up, say mean things about him on the Internet, and write insults about him in his school books. He tells his parents and they try to stop these from happening. The school doesn't usually help keep him safe. His parents once sued one of the bullies.
This could happen to any kid that is different from everyone else. Schools should make sure this doesn't happen to anyone.

Three Definitions

There are three things we had to define in Health class. We had to define bullying, sexual violence, and sexual harassment. Bullying is when one kid picks on another kid doing things such as hitting, scratching and saying bad things about them. When a boy bullies someone, they usually tease, trip them, name call, steal lunch money, and do other mean things. Girls usually ignore someone or exclude someone from a group of friends.

Sexual violence is when someone acts inappropriately toward someone from the opposite sex. This is done through threats, intimidation, and inappropriate behavior toward them. The victims are usually female. People are usually this way because they saw violence as a kid or having friends that act this way.

Sexual harassment is someone who does something inappropriate to another person, usually of the opposite sex. People are encouraged to get help to stop the harassers if this is happening. If if the harasser is someone who works with the victim, then the victim could tell the boss. If not, then the victim should call the police.

Video Game Violence

It is probably true that violent video games get people used to violence. If video games were less violent, people would probably get less violent, and maybe there would be less fighting in real life. There was a test done with 257 college students. One group of students played a violent video game for 20 minutes and another played a nonviolent game for the same amount of time. After 20 minutes were up, their heart rates were tested. Both groups had the same heart rate. Then the students had to see a video of violence in real life. The students who played the violent games had the same heart rate as before, but the ones who played nonviolent games had a faster heart rate. You can read this article at http://www.webmd.com/parenting/news/20060728/video-games-numb-players-to-violence.

Health Class

In our health class we will be learning about things such as nutrition, safety, emotional health, and other topics. The nutrition part sounds easy, but I don't really want to learn some of the things this class is teaching such as the signs of suicide and harassment.