Marking Period 4 Week 2

http://www.youbeauty.com/sleep/columns/sleeping-beauty/sleep-deprivation-and-daily-living
In this column, James Maas explains how reoccurring sleep deprivation can cause health issues and struggles that we have learned to brush off in the hustle of the 21st century. The recommended needed sleep for an adult, Maas explains, is between seven and a half and nine hours each night, when realistically we get about six. This belief that running on six hours of sleep and feeling fatigued during the day is "normal" causes us to ignore signs (including anxiety, irritability, and reoccurring illness) that we are sleep deprived, which in turn harms our "quality of life". Other health threatening results include weight gain, increased likelihood of heart disease, cancer, and diabetes, which are triggered by imbalanced amounts of hormones or overworked nervous systems. Maas also describes another serious problem called "microsleeps" (short periods of sleeping during the day), which may seem less serious than other issues, but can in fact occur behind the wheel of a car or at work and cause more harm. Although lack of sleep may be over looked in current society, the level of harm and long term effects it can so easily cause should be better understood.

Marking Period 4 Week 1

http://www.healthnewsdigest.com/news/contributing%20columnist0/Stress_Yes_It_Really_Can_Kill_You_2.shtml
In this article, columnist Michael D. Shaw, explores the various types of stress experienced in current society and how this stress can severely damage our health and damage us more than with just a short lived panic. He summarizes three main types of stress: acute stress, in which we make instant "fight or flight" decisions, chronic stress, caused by the "challenges of modern life", and traumatic stress, caused by a life changing experience. Although an individual may not experience all three types of stress, all types can increase health risks, including leading to hypertension and other related cardiovascular issues, as well as depression or anxiety. He explains that it is often suggested by medical experts that Type 2 diabetes is frequently triggered by stress and anxiety, although the direct connection between the two is not as apparent (as the diabetes may be caused by another reaction to coping with stress). In order to live a healthy life, he emphasizes the importance in reducing stress levels when possible. Because I am a high school student and experience different levels of stress in my everyday life, this article greatly relates to my life as well as my peers because we tend to accept the stress as a part of life, when we should really being taking into consideration our health in the future.

Marking Period 3 Week 4

Snyder views society as always having something new to teach us, and that we must have the confidence in ourselves to try something new if we really want to learn and grow from what unexpected opportunities are offered to us. Although society can be hostile at times, she explains how taking rough situations with a grain a salt is important because not everything is going to be easy, and hard or unfamiliar situations may take more effort but you can get something out of it in the end. If we do not experiment and push our normal 'boundaries', then we are not able to really appreciate what we have available to us. Snyder therefore also shows her view that one does not have to be successful at something to learn a lessen and benefit from it. Overall, she sees society as being full of opportunity that we just have to take advantage of, even the smallest situations.