As we are at the end of this semester looking back to where I started with my health aspect goals to where I am now, I am beyond happy. I am so happy with the amount of knowledge I have learned in all aspects of health and especially the ones closer to my own health goals. I have been eating cleaner a lot more consistently where it has become my norm and even working out almost every day and loving it. I would never have thought that I would be able to stick to running to the point where I now wake up and immediately put my shoes on ready for a run. Combining eating clean and working out has helped me achieve both goals. Every time I work out I feel good and want to fuel my body with foods that it needs and I can use as tools, and then this allows my body to feel good and I have so much energy that working out is exciting for me. I loved being able to take this opportunity to focus back on my health and achieve these goals.

Now for Chapter 15, all these topics felt like the finishing touch for my health aspect and this course. I loved learning more about mind and body practices and going back into learning about mindfulness meditation, I also enjoyed learning about the different therapies there are and how they range from so many and so many different types of styles. These are the ones that I emphasized on the most because they were new topics and fun to learn and maybe even to add to my health changes.

Movement therapies were cool and loved that this approach can benefit the posture, increase physical, mental, and emotional well being, while also reducing limitations in the body. This was one I immediately wrote down to look into for myself because I do prefer these types of therapies rather than medications. The two methods for this are, the Alexander technique and the Feldenkrais method, which both have amazing benefits and something I am excited to look into for myself.

Another thing was Qigong, I have never heard of this before but sounded interesting as an energy therapy and what that can do for you. This technique uses mediation and regulation of breathing to help increase the flow in your body to enhance blood circulation and to improve the function of the immune system. This was another one I also wanted to look into and give it a try for myself.

Lastly, learning the different natural products and dietary supplements risks and benefits was one of my favorite topics. I do love finding anything natural to help with any condition rather than taking something that can be more harmful. Flaxseeds and green tea are two of my favorite things that I have added in my diet since high school and I can say for myself it has been amazing for me. Flaxseed I learned a little bit about nutrition classes and has helped me with increasing my fiber intake. Green tea I have at least 2 times a week and is my favorite tea. I have luckily not experienced insomnia or anxiety when taking it, but have noticed that it has helped with weightless and even keeping me from snacking. These are all great ways to help incorporate healthy and natural alternatives to help with any problems or conditions.

As for as things have been going with my health topic, I have been maintaining on eating clean and working out almost every day. I do believe an important part in reaching my goals and staying healthy is also learning that everything is ok in moderation. I am aware that I have been focused on clean eating and have been proud of myself for continuing to do so. I have allowed myself to have ice cream just once a week, but only if I am craving it. I have noticed that if I am in the mood for a snack and have a little bit of it that I usually never overdo it and it is easier for me to stick to eating clean the rest of the week. I have been looking to cleaner and healthier brands though when it comes to allowing myself to have a treat.

This week’s chapter I can say was fitting and interesting to learn on top of everything that is going on in the world today. It seems like you cannot even turn on the tv or open up your laptop without reading or hearing about something with our environment and health conditions going on. For this chapter, I enjoyed reading more about the impact on food supply, impact on ecosystems, and the impact on other species. I thought these were interesting to look more into and wish that this chapter had more on these topics, but I did just take it upon myself to do some more research.

The impact on other species and the connection to environmental health seemed odd, but I was not sure what I was going to be reading into. Learning about the destruction of species and their habitats was heartbreaking and that 477 species have gone extinct since 1900, which was declining 100 times faster than normal extinction. It hurts to read this stuff and see what impacts humans have over the world and how the way we continue to live hurts and is threatening the lives of so many other species we share this world with.

Another thing was also further into the impact on ecosystems. Aquatic ecosystems have always been so cool to me and I remember even when I was little learning about this stuff and ocean life and how beautiful it was and should be treated and looked at with care, but in today’s world that has been far from what has been happening. I was sad to learn that the ocean was 30% more acidic than they were 200 years ago, which is just damaging our oceans and the creatures that live in the ocean. We are losing so much beauty in the world and ones that have been sharing this world with us way before any of us.

Lastly, the impact on the food supply has been just continued to get worse and worse and we are all responsible for what damage we are doing to this world and other life forms we share it with. Oceans are hurting and especially when it comes to the amount of fishing. We are fishing 250% faster than what can regenerate in the ocean, these are all things that will and already have been backfiring and going downhill if there are no changes and big ones too. Learning to make environmentally safe and healthy changes does not just help us, but so much more that we share in this world.

As for this week and my health goals, I can say I have been really happy with my progress and even the motivation I continue to have. During this time it can be easy to get off track or not hold yourself accountable, but the more I stick to my routine the more successful I have been. I still have been exploring a lot of new clean recipes and with time managing, I have been able to try a new meal every day. I have been lucky that I do enjoy all foods so there has not been a meal I haven’t liked. I think this is something I can even do when we go back to a “norm” because I have found all these different meals that are easy to prepare, but also offers a wide range. I am excited to continue with fulfilling this goal.

Chapter 13 on violence and intentional injuries were interesting to learn about all the different topics that had been covered. I have not learned much in a course on violence and an in-depth look at the different types of crimes and what it looks like in the world, so this was interesting to look into. I think with media and everyone having access to what is going on in the world it has been a pattern of a lot of violence that is present in the world and even in schools. What was interesting to find out about was the statistics for violence on college campuses. It was found that 10.9% of women and 6.4% of men had reported that they have been emotionally abused in an intimate relationship over 12 months. This was just one type of violence that was reported and it was just surprising that these were the statist, but also that this was even considered a form of violence.

Another thing that stood out was how much impact the media can have when it comes to violence. Some studies have been reported to prove that violent media is linked to the increased risks of aggression and desensitizing people when it comes to violence. There was no shock that this could be true when considering violence, especially because of how graphic things are now. I have seen a few video games and even tv shows and the violence that they show in it looks real and can be so gruesome. It would be no surprise that people exposing themselves to watching these types of violence would become desensitized towers violence.

Lastly, I had never heard of acts of commission up until this chapter. The acts of commission are intentional words or actions to inflict pain, threats, or harm to a child. It is scary to learn how prevalent child abuse and neglect is in the U.S. and that in 2015 there were roughly 658,000 cases. This chapter did a good job touching on all of these different topics and giving an understanding of what violence can look like and is in the U.S.

Chapter 12 was nothing but eye-opening. For the most part, these were all topics I was either somewhat familiar with or just have heard of before. These are of course all things that are important to know about and to be aware of, but also to know why it is so important to be mindful of all the possible risks and dangers there are and why keeping yourself healthy and aware of what to reduce your risks for in all different areas. So far in this semester I have become more aware of numerous health topics and has been risks in life, in one way these were all things that could make you paranoid and scared to do everything, but I think it is something to just use as resourceful and reasons why you need to keep yourself healthy and ultimately why making certain choices should be considered with more thought and smartest decision for you.

This has been a huge part of my healthy topic for not only being focused on food but living a healthy lifestyle and reducing as many health risks that I can by consuming foods that are beneficial for my body and keeping active. So far it has been great, I have been able to go for runs almost every day since I do allow myself days for rest. I have been experimenting with more recipes to try healthier foods and to mix things up to not get bored with the same meals. I have been really happy, considering what is going on in the world today this has been helping with stress and my mood. Going back into this chapter many things were new to me and was interested to learn about. I never knew the process of infections.

Learning that for a disease to occur in the body, the host must be highly likely to get infected or the immune system must be in a weak condition. This is something that motivates me to try my best to stay healthy and do what I can to keep my immune system strong along with myself. Another topic that was interesting to learn about was about vaccines. Of course, there is constant news on vaccines and diseases on the news now, so this was the best time to learn about what their processes were. Vaccines consist of weakened versions of that particular disease microorganisms or antigens that are safer. They go into the body to boost the immune system to fight against these attacks to keep your body healthy.

Lastly, I never heard about antibiotic resistance and was a little anxious to understand the phenomena. Antibiotics are meant to clean out bacteria that it is looking to attack depending on the antibiotics, but there are now many antibiotics that are becoming ineffective against certain bacteria. This is creating a dangerous problem in many different ways because these bacterias or microorganisms are not being stopped and cleaned out. These are all topics that we should all consider taking the time to learn about to stress the importance of taking care of ourselves and health.

Hi, I’m Samantha Lundrigan and in the last semester of my senior year at Bridgewater State University. I will graduate in May 2020 with my major in psychology. I have transferred from Dean College, which I loved and met great friends but things came up and I decided to transfer and commute to school from home. I have loved my experience at Bridgewater and all the courses I have taken and professors I have had and it was a great choice for me overall. I was interested in taking this course because I feel that there is always something meaningful and important to learn in health and wellness classes.

I have taken one in high school and of course, it was limited to some things, but I loved the class so much and still to this day take things that I have learned from it and carry it with me. I learned I wanted to try track in that class and ended up loving it and that was how I got into running, so I am eager to take all that I can from this course. The health aspect I want to focus on for this semester is to work on having better eating habits, I want to make a lifestyle change that I love. I understand that it may constantly change and I am ok with that. I want to learn how to eat better and what foods my body best responds to.

Last year, I went vegan for almost a whole year and I loved it. I no longer was breaking out, having headaches, lazy, tired, I had more energy, I looked better, but more importantly, I just felt better! This is something I do what to try again, but not as strict. I do think dairy is a food that I no longer will continue to have because of this experience, my body just had a bad relationship and reaction from dairy. I do not want to restrict myself and I think that is overall what I want to learn. If I am at a cookout and there are burgers I want to be able to enjoy that, but also not overindulge in foods regularly. I am excited for all that I will get to take from this course and others and cannot wait to see what these changes will mean for all of us.

This week’s chapter on CV, Cancer, and diabetes was a lot of information on these topics that I never knew much of. Lung cancer was the only topic that I was more aware of because my grandfather had lung cancer when I was just a baby and it was the only relative when I was growing up to know to have cancer. More recently, my family had found out that my aunt was diagnosed with breast cancer and that came as a huge shock to our family, because there was no history of that in our family. These topics were always concerns for my family and growing up I was always made aware to always follow up with doctor appointments and to always ask questions when needed. I was fortunate enough to have my family emphasize the importance of staying on top or more so ahead of my health, and so now I always make sure that I do stay healthy and learn all the ways I can do so.

This has a lot to do with my health aspect for this semester because as much as I want to have a healthy body, I want to be aware of what that means and different ways I can add things into my routine to allow myself to stay healthy, lose the weight I want to, and be more knowledgable of the things I put into my body. This week has been a great time for my health aspect since I have been able to try a lot of new recipes or looking up foods I should be adding into my diet to help with that. There has been so much news coming out due to COVID – 19 and I have been paying attention to the foods that they say we should try to have to boost our immune systems, so we have had a lot of oranges in our diet in my house and leaning other healthier habits or foods to start having to help our bodies. Now, going back to this chapter I enjoyed learning more on these topics and even taking the time to do my research learning on things such as, risk factors for metabolic syndrome and what recommended cholesterol levels were.

Before this, I never knew what metabolic syndrome was, by learning that it is the increased risk for atherosclerotic heart disease three times the normal rates, it might be something I should know. I always try to learn as much as I can on these things that have to do with our health in a way that I can be mindful to keep myself healthy and on top of these things rather than hearing about health risks or problems because of putting risks in my lifestyle. I liked learning the section on dietary modifications that may affect heart health. Especially because of my health aspect, I want to learn things that I can add to my diet and lifestyle to keep my healthy and not at risk for any problems. Eating lots of fiber, consuming 2 grams of plant sterols a day, and cutting down on dietary sodium, are things that I have been already doing because of my health goal and learning this just motivates me to continue these new healthy habits.

Also, I know it was just briefly touched on but reading about Human Papillomavirus was interesting. I always knew about it and remember at check-ups always checking off that I got that vaccine, but never knew what it was or what the vaccine was. I never knew how common it was in the United States for men and women to be infected with this and how important it is to stay healthy and to take care of yourself whether that is with doctor checkups, diets, lifestyle choices, or whatever it may look like for you. Picking up new healthy habits can be tough and at times discouraging, but I think allowing yourself to constantly stay aware of what great things it can do for you and lower your risk can motivate you to keep on with your goals and learn more.

This week’s chapter on fitness was great, as I have been recently doing my zoom class workouts that my gym has to offer. I can honestly say I never really learned much about fitness, workouts, and the different type of physical activities that the body can do that are beneficial for the long run. I always knew that it was best to stay active and to find an activity that you love just to keep yourself and your body healthy. I never took it upon myself to understand what different workouts can do and what you should be doing to give your body the most beneficial activity or exercise it needs. I love running and that use to be the only workout that I would focus on, but recently I have been joining a lot of gym classes and I love that even more. Of course, during this time with gyms being closed I do not get the full experience that I love, but the classes they offer on zoom have been great.

The three main topics I learned that I believe are huge for me and my health goal and allowing myself to create a healthy lifestyle is how physical activity and exercise help improve back strength, improve mental health and stress management, and longer lifespan. I have noticed since starting college I have experienced painful lower back problems and just never cared to take the time to look into what was causing it. Learning that regular exercise helps target the back mussels to strengthen them, while also working core muscles helps to reduce longer back pains make me want to stick to a workout routine. I have played sports my whole life and have always been active, but when leaving for college I no longer played sports or stuck to a workout routine and it is probably because I no longer am exercising those muscles. I am interested in finding workouts that can help reduce lower back pain and other exercises I can do to help.

Regular physical activity now just seems like an obvious factor for mental health and stress, but I never took the time to even notice the relationship that my mental health had when I was or was not exercising. This is something that is so important for me and makes me want to make a point during the day to set aside for working out and having that time for me and whatever exercise I chose to do that day. I know that every time I have stuck to a workout I always feel a lot happier and better about my day and week to come. I know that it can be challenging to find the time, but knowing that I can choose to make time to do something that will make me feel better, look better, and just blow off some stress, seems reason enough to make sure I allow myself to do that every day.

Lastly, the big one I learned about was how regular exercise has the power to live a longer life. This one I just loved learning about because I certainly want to live a long healthy life and want to know the tools that will allow me to do so. This not only means living a longer life but also having the opportunity to reduce health risks, that living a sedentary lifestyle most likely would not allow for you to do.

Physical activity for most and sticking to a workout routine is challenging and can be intimidating to get into, that is why I think it is so important to find a workout that works best for you, but also you love to do. I never limit myself and I think that is what has helped me so much, I have tried different classes and found out what was and was not for me. I was able to find out that I love kickboxing and cycle classes, so now when I get to do this during the day I am so excited and not dreading it because It works for me and that is what is most important for everyone to focus on and find what works for them.

For this week’s chapter, I was interested in the material that the textbook covered and learned a lot about how many factors go into body image, whether positive or negative and for weight management. I have never really been one to always look to step on the scale, other than when going to a doctor’s appointment. I for the most of always found it important to be healthy or to stay on track, but I think a lot has helped me always stay healthy by allowing myself to have times where I’m not on track or I choose a burger and shake over a healthier option. I never let myself be ashamed of enjoying foods and allowing myself to have them, but I have always been aware of what makes my body feel at its best so I have usually been more encouraged by fueling my body with foods that allow me to feel that way. There have been times where I either had a really bad week with my food choices and at the end of the week I was miserable, even then I never looked at that as too much of a negative and put myself down I just always chose to allow them to motivate me to get back on tracker or find some new recipes to try out that are healthy.

I loved learning about physiological factors, such as metabolic rates, the basal metabolic rate, and exercise metabolic rate. I, of course, have heard of them, but never really took the time to know what it means and how it applies to you personally. I think it’s just amazing to see this factor for your body in almost like a math equation and how certain calculations can tell you what and how much your body needs and of what. This is something I want to invest in learning for myself so I can apply it to my health aspect on clean eating and staying healthy. Learning what your specific body needs and how it breaks down food along with how much you are burning will be a great tool for allowing me to stay healthy and give my body what it needs!

Learning about measures of body fat is another one I would like to apply to my health aspect, I, of course, do not want to emphasize how important this is, because I know a lot of people can become obsessed with a number or having a certain goal number and not going over it, but I do not feel the need to get too carried away with that. I do love challenging myself and it just so happens that my mom bought a scale that can tell you your body fat percentage, so I want to just note that along with my health journey to see what changes that may have. I did learn that usually, these methods require a professional and usually done in a clinical setting, but I do not see that happening so I do want to just stick to the scale. I never knew how many different assessments that they have to measure body fat, from underwater weighing, skin folds, bioelectrical impedance analysis, dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, and bod pod. I do not think numbers are crucial if you are an overall healthy person, I just do find all the different methods and assessments that you can try to are cook. I believe that our bodies do enough communicating with us on how we feel and signaling that we are treating our bodies well with the right nutrients and exercise or if we are not.

Lastly, I did want to touch on eating disorders and what I learned from it because I think it can be challenging to know when sticking to a healthy lifestyle can be difficult and sometimes other problems arise and people do confuse eating less will mean that they are just going to get skinny. I know I am no expert, but from my experience, I have had people in my life struggle with eating disorders and there are a lot of different factors or types that play a part in creating an unhealthy habit. When I had read this chapter I never knew how much thinking does control eating disorders and finding out that many people who are struggling with these disorders use these habits to gain a sense of control and power of the food they chose to eat. These are all things that I think are huge in learning and understanding and maybe even catching things that you never thought of as a problem with eating habits. This is important for anyone to know and especially trying to take on a new health aspect and challenge for yourself and understanding how your body works and what it needs to work best!

This week’s chapter on Nutrition was pretty fitting since I have been trying to focus a lot more on my nutrition, given that we are all now, for the most part, staying in our homes. I have been learning different healthy alternatives for foods and also just learning more about what I should be putting into my body. Learning nutrition is something I believe is important for everyone and will only benefit people to learn how to eat and treat their bodies. Nutrition allows us to learn what our body truly needs and the relationship it has on our psychological function. As much as I would like to believe I knew a lot about nutrition the truth is that this chapter allowed me to learn a lot about nutrition that I never knew about.

I have never heard about incomplete proteins and complete proteins until reading this chapter. I had learned that incomplete proteins are from plant sources since they are lacking amino acids, while complete proteins that provide all the necessary amino acids. Since a lot of my diet is more plant-based this was something that caught my attention and was alarming. As I read more on this I found out those who have a plant-based diet as long as they are incorporating leafy vegetables and broccoli will provide all the necessary amino acids that your body needs.

As I continued reading this chapter I found myself sticking notes to each page on just things I learned that I wanted to highlight on and explore further to help with my nutrition and keeping a healthy lifestyle. One section I wanted to take my time learning about was carbohydrates. I feel that carbs always get a bad reputation and most people are afraid of consuming carbs. I wanted to just learn for myself how to have carbs in your diet in a healthy way and what that means. I was happy to learn that whole grains is the better option to go but also learned how important it is to have a diet that is high in fiber. These are things I will make sure to factor in when planning meals for the week and allowing my body to have all the healthy nutrients possible to be as healthy as I can be.