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The Hypothalamus, Pituitary Glands and Hormones! And not the Sex Pheromone Variety…

The Hypothalamus and the pituitary gland are super important in regulating the hormone release from one other gland in the body.
The Hypothalamus is the link between the Endocrine and Nervous System, It also controls the Pituitary Gland through 9 releasing and inhibiting hormones. Together the Pituitary Gland and the Hypothalamus regulate all aspects of growth, development, metabolism and homeostasis. The Pituitary Gland secretes several hormones that the Hypothalamus generates (synthesises).

For example the Pituitary Gland and the hypothalamus are involved in Thyroid Function.
The Hypothalamus produces TRH  – Thyrotropin releasing Hormones when the thyroid hormone level drops in the body. This causes the secretion of TSH – Thyroid stimulating Hormone from the Pituitary Gland. This causes the Thyroid to produe more T3 and T4 Hormones which raise the level in the blood – The Pituitary Gland will then lower the amount of TSH in the blood.

ADH – Antidiuretic Hormone – Vasopressin

ADH is produced in the Hypothalamus and released in the posterior pituitary (Posterior Lobe/Neurophypophysis) as a response to dehydration.

Antidiuretic Hormone stimulates water reabsorption by the kidneys and arteriolar constriction. General Function is vasopressin – conserving water. ADH (is released) kicks in during dehydration –  decreases urine production and sweating and increases blood pressure as a result of vasoconstriction. ADH is controlled by the osmotic pressure in the blood. And during over hydration ADH is inhibited.

Dehydration:

  1. Hypothalamic osmoreceptors are stimulated by High Blood Osmotic pressure
  2. Osmoreceptors activate the neurosecretory cells that synthesis and release ADH
  3. Nerve impulses free ADH from axon terminals in the Pituitary Gland into the bloodstream
  4. Kidneys retain more water – decreases urine volume, Sweat Glands decrease water loss and Arterioles constrict – increased BP

Overhydration:

  1. Low Blood Osmotic Pressure inhibits hypothalamic osmoreceptors
  2. Then this impacts on the ADH secretion as osmoreceptors are inhibited
  3. Which effects, sweat, urine and blood pressure.
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January 5th Annual Day Of Rejection

January 5th Annual Day Of Rejection

I wish I was joking, but every 5th of January since 2011 I have always been dumped on this day or faced the sharp pain of rejection.

The first time was when my high school boyfriend of two months broke up with me, before we started our last year of school together. Jan 5th 2011

Then again the following year, a guy who I was infatuated with, Bas, decided that after a month things were moving too fast, Jan 5th 2012.

Lucky number three, wasn’t so lucky, I admit I realised there was a pattern starting to develop and I thought this guy was different. My infatuation with Bas, pulled me out yet another relationship, only to have my heart torn out again. Jan 5th 2013

Number 4, he was a weird guy, who refused to date me since my morals were too ‘loose’, but was more than happy to revel in them.  Jan 5th 2014

And number 5, Well it will be interesting to see if by avoiding my phone and men I will be able to avoid the rejection. I always say I am staying away from men and not even leaving the house on the 5th of January, but somehow I always put my faith in these guys that they will be the one, or something different.

Keeping in mind I have been dumped on other dates during the years, it is just a little odd that it happens like this the past few years.

So everyone else out there, enjoy your 5th of Jan in style, I will be on lock down with icecream and movies tomorrow.

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Flight or Fight?

The Autonomic Nervous System usually operates without conscious control, it is regulated by the hypothalamus and the brain stem. The efferent parts of the ANS are divided into the Sympathetic and the Parasympathetic. Some organs in the body receive impulses from both of these, this is called dual innervation.

The Sympathetic system takes over in any physical or mental stress, for example;

  • exercise,
  • embarrassment,
  • excitement
  • and emergency.

It is accompanied by the body getting ready to implement the fight or flight response, this means:

  • dilation of pupils
  • increase of heart rate and blood pressure
  • decrease in blood flow to nonessential organs (e.g. focus away from digesting food)
  • increase in blood flow to skeletal & cardiac muscle
  • airways dilate & respiratory rate increases
  • and blood glucose level increase

I can identify a few times when the fight or flight response kicked in,

A few weeks ago two men tried to break into the secure building I live in at 3am, my body was flooded with adrenaline and cortisol even though I knew I was safe. I could feel my heart racing and suddenly had such amazing energy even though I had just been woken up at 3 am by breaking tiles. I went out and started to yell at them, and ended up man handling one of them, not realising that I felt somewhat stronger than usual, I ended up piercing the skin when I grabbed one guy by the arm which I didn’t notice until after the fiasco.

On reflection,  I wouldn’t actually be threatening to two very intoxicated big burly men. It took around an hour for my body to calm down afterwards and I felt like I really needed to go for a run or do something to expel all the excess energy.

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Learned Reflexes Vs Innate Reflexes

What is the difference between innate reflexes and learned reflexes?

An Innate Reflex is one that you have no choice over, it is a natural unlearned response to a stimulus, for example the pupil in the eye ball resizing in adjustment to light or a knee jerk in response to getting hit by a hammer, or goose bumps in the cold.
 Learned Reflexes are association related. For example, beginning to salivate when smelling food, or the sound of a bell as seen in studied.

While both forms of reflexes show success to survival, the innate reflexes, like the gag reflex to stop you from choking, are life essential, or the automatic response to jerk away from items that are too hot or to drop them in our attempt to remove ourselves from the exposure to pain.

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Neurons – A briefing – Anatomy and Physiology

Neurons, yay! These little guys respond to electrical excitement! Don’t they just sound like the life of the party? They respond to a change in the environment ( but it has to be powerful enough to start the ball rolling on action potential), this is called a stimulus, and then turn that response into action potential! Action potential is a nerve impulse – an electrical charge that moves all the way along the surface of the membrane of a neuron!
How the hell does it move? Easy! The movement of Na and K, ions, between the interstitial fluid and the inside of a neuron through specific ion channels in its plasma membrane. A nerve impulse travels at the same quick speed through the journey. Some Neurons are really short, and some are super long! like form your waste to your ankle.

Neurons are made up of three parts:

  1. Cell Body (Perikaryon or Soma) contains a nucleus surrounded by cytoplasm
  2. Dendrites (like little trees, there is usually multiple dendrites and only one axon) are the part that receives the signal, the plasma membranes contain reception sites for binding the chemical messages from other cells. Dendrites are usually short but with lot of branches.
  3. Axon (or since there is only one of them usually per neuron – Axis) of a neuron starts the outgoing nerve impulse towards another neuron, gland cell or muscle fibre. An axon is long and thin cylinder shaped, it joins to the cell body at the cone shape (axon hillock), the closes to this part of the axon is called the initial segment. The nerve impulse starts between the axon hillock and the initial segment, this is called the trigger zone. The cytoplasm of the axon, axoplasm, is covered by plasma membranes – axolemma, a bit like a husk. The communication between neurons occurs in the synapse

Now for the interesting bit:

Structural Classification of Neurons:

  • Multipolar neurons: these have lots of dendrites and one axon, mainly the neurons of the brain and spinal cord and all motor neurones fit in this category.
  • Bipolar neurons: one dendrite and one axon, found mainly in the eye, ear and olfactory area of the brain
  • Unipolar Neurons: have some dendrites and one axon that have fused together to become a single process. These ones detect the feeling sensations : touch, pressure, pain or thermal. These can be found in the spinal cord.
    There are is also a functional classification for these neurons too*
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A List of Tv Shows You Should Be Watching – 30 Entries for 30 Days – Number 15

I am constantly kicking myself for falling behind in University Course work, Sure I could blame the incessant texting, Tinder-ing, Online dating – thank you OkCupid, or the fact Ive been reading some great books….

But let’s not. Lets focus on that one thing I always pretend I don’t do – watching TV…

I am not sure about you, but when people ask me what I do for fun, my answer will never be watch tv. And when ever people ask me if I watch TV, my answer is always ‘No’, as if it somehow gives me some god given right to lord it above others.
It is the one thing I really know that I lie about, well technically I watch the dvd Box sets and the tv shows… but not actually on the TV so maybe it isn’t lying.

The TV shows you should be watching for the summer are:

  • Red Band Society:
    A super cute story that follows seven children/teenagers through their experience in a hospital. We have ‘Coma Boy’, better known as Charlie, who has been in a coma and is the narrator of the Show. Kira, essentially a cold hearted bitch –  who has heart failure – go figure. Leo, a great guy who excels in sports and has cancer in his leg. Jordie, a poor guy riddled with cancer who’s grown up in and out of back end poker rooms. Dash – the glue who holds the gang together, who’s lungs are in crisis. Emma, a overly smart girl who is suffering from Anorexia and some family drama. Hunter, A guy who’s liver is failing and feels it’s very much ‘me against the world’ situation.  These 7 are joined by four main staff members, Nurse Jackson, Dr McAndrews, Nurse Brittany and Nurse Kenji.
  • Jane The Virgin
    Jane, who was raised by her grandmother and mother – who had her as an teenager, vowed to stay a virgin until marriage so that she wouldn’t repeat her mothers accident. It all goes well until she is accidentally inseminated with her Boss’s sperm – don’t ask questions – just watch it.
  • Weeds
    If you liked Breaking Bad, you’ll love Weeds. Focusing on a young widowed mum with a flare for selling drugs and getting caught up in drama, it’s well worth a watch.
  • Bob’s Burgers
    One of the more classy cartoon shows, sorry Archer but your sexist comments aren’t wanted here. This tv show focuses on the Belcher Family, Bob, Linda, Tina, Gene and Louise as they run a burger joint. Words can’t describe how funny this show is.
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30 Entries for 30 Days – Number 14

Ok, so here I am playing catch up, perhaps it was my lack of commitment to myself that constantly leads me astray. It wasn’t so much that I stopped writing as much as I just stopped posting them.

If you have ever had the misfortune to read anything I have ever posted you will notice there is spelling and grammatical errors all through it… And why I would love to have the ability to go back through and revise it, taking out the boring bits too, I can’t. If I was to re-read my work I get so self conscious of my mindless drivel it becomes too embarrassing to post.
Don’t get me wrong, I think people who blog, write or whatever have a duty to make sure what ever they offer up isn’t complete crap… While I am a hypocrite when it comes to this writing aspect of my life, the rest of my life is very ordered and based on dedicate time to a few big things rather than dozens of inadequate things. For example if you look at my room, I don’t have much, but what I do have is very important to me or good quality – best of all when something comes under both categories.

Am I forgiven? 

I was at a christening yesterday out in Parramatta ASAP Church and during the entire service the Pastor kept rabbiting on about Forgiveness. I have a very strong dislike for the church as a whole, ever since I stopped going when I was 7 years old due to the Church’s lack of acceptance for any belief that may be slightly different, I wouldn’t enter one, even for funerals, christenings or weddings unless I was holding my Grandma or Great Aunts Hands, I was so paranoid that god would strike me with lightening and I figured that they were such good and god-fearing women that I would be safe. Sadly yesterday was a reminder that I have not yet grown out of this weird habit.

Ignoring the fact I was in a church, it made me think so much about this pointless drama with the Tinder Fling and how much time I waste on someone who kept asking for forgiveness then would go and do the whole thing again, get caught and ask again for forgiveness… I honestly just don’t care, It’s himself he needs to forgive, I figure, give him space and when/if he works through his crap he will come back and we can start again, and if not, WHO REALLY CARES?… except me, I totally care…

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Introducing Flower Essences

The other day my friend was making fun of me since I drive in bare feet and was calling me a hippy and telling me it was illegal. WHICH IS A LIE! I googled it, and we all know google doesn’t lie….Anyway so I decided to make a more ‘hippy’ themed post about the amazing things that are classified as Flower Essences.

Flower Essences can be explained bluntly as the process of putting flowers in water, taking them out and mixing that flower water with brandy, but that doesn’t mean anything.
Flower essences affect the body on a mental and emotional level, They are said to work Physically – filtering down into mental aspect. Or work on a mind state and filter down to the physical. Each flower symbolises something and will treat a different symptom. For example the way that flowers are categorised can be by colour, shape, number of petals, all of these factors allude to what they treat.

Flower Essences are produced by imprinting a flower’s unique vibrational healing signature onto the carrier solution and are used to treat imbalances at a higher level, bringing about emotional and spiritual balance and well being in the whole person (ABFE. ND).

Vague example of Bach Flower Remedies:

Dr Edward Bach, 1886-1936, studied medicine and worked in immunology and bacteriology before learning about Homeopathy. From here he started to match the disharmonious states of health to bacteria – specifically mental and emotional conditions that manifest as physical illness.

1930-1936 – The discovery of the flower essences that we use today.

It is thought that the subtle energy from the vibrations of these flower essences are used to realign the emotions that are causing dysfunction. By increasing alignment, greater harmony could occur within the individual as physical aspect combine with the energy – emotional and mental aspect of higher self.

Treatment is very easy since Bach has separated the types so that treatment can be given efficiently. There are 38 Bach Essence Remedies, which restore physical health through correction of underlying emotions.

  • Fear:
    Aspen, Cherry Plum, Mimulus,  Red Chestnut and Rock Rose
  • Uncertainty:

    Cerato, Gentian, Gorse, Hornbeam, Scleranthus and Wild Oat

  • Lack of Interest:

    Chestnut Bud, Clematis, Honeysuckle, Olive, White Chestnut and Wild Rose

  • Loneliness:
    Heather, Impatiens and Water Violet
  • Oversensitivity:
    Agrimony, Centaury, Holly and Walnut
  • Depression/Anguish:
    Crab Apple, Elm, Larch, Mustard, Oak, Pine, Star of Bethlehem, Sweet Chestnut and Willow
  • Worry:
    Beech, Chicory, RockWater, Vervain and Vine.

Australian Bush Flowers Essences (ABFE), ND, Ian White http://ausflowers.com.au/Teachers/Teacher-Ian-White accessed Nov 2013

Bach Center, 2007, The 38 Flower Remedies, Wigmore Publications Ltd, London, Great Britain

Bach Center, ND, http://www.bachcentre.com/centre/select.htm viewed 26 November 2013

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30 Entries for 30 Days – Number 11 – The Pre-Relationship Relationship

As you know this ’30 day’ thing is being stretched to 30+ days since I am so slack with posting, there will still be 30 posts when I get around to them all.

But I know I am not alone in revealing in this stage before a relationship starts or ends before it starts.

It’s a great day to be alive, tensions are heavy, and the blinding thrill has slowed down, so that you can make out the potential destruction through all the metaphorical clouds that are your emotions.
This is the perfect time to see how well they treat you, both of you can pull out of this process at anytime under the assumption on one is attached to strongly. But here lies the problem, by this stage you are so wrapped up in each others dramas that the idea of being separated hurt to the core.

Of course it is a great time to see how personalities clash, I’m very much a Better Dig Two kind of gal after plenty of experiences, I get ridiculously  attached when I really like someone. I think the last time I felt like this was the Floridian Maths Teacher, before that was  my motorcycle driveby,  and before that was SeaBas, a guy I met at the gym and spent only a month in a relationship with, followed by months of dating.

So it’s been while, but not long enough that I’ve forgotten not to jump in the sack straight away. The funny thing with all these guys, in my attempt to show them how much I cared about them and wanted to be with them long term my actions backfired on me and the fact that I had slept with them ruined any further relationship.

Keeping in mind I only keep in contact with ‘Motorcycle DriveBy’ Guy, who calls me when ever he needs an ego boost and wants to know that I would still drop anything, or anyone to be with him…

Perhaps I am the problem….

But this is the update:

I love this stage of a ‘pre’ relationship, the honey moon phase is floating around, there are no rules as you guys aren’t a thing, there is so much internal debate on if you are exclusive. and the turmoil inside is worth it when they say what you want to hear, your entire body feels at peace, but until then you are left with:

Should I be this open with someone I just met?

Are they going to hurt me?

But what happens if they don’t want something more serious?

Are they sleeping with someone else too?

Well, my dear Cody, the Tinder Fling, gave me the ultimatum either I have sex with him or He’s going to find it else where.

You know, I have never felt this strong in a position where I supposedly have no power, I’m sticking to my guns. When I first read that text I admit my stomach dropped and I felt like someone had shot me.  His exact words were:

“….So I am sorry If I end up doing something with another girl. Fuck I am sounding like an asshole. But honestly I’m not going to go looking  I would rather you ;)”

Are you freaking kidding me?

The advice I was given from a fellow Pre-Realtionship Relationshiper was that he was a jerk, but perhaps  reconnect in a few months since we were at different stages… Then in the same breath she changed her tune to:

“Ok I lied, RUN, RUN LIKE HELL!”

But the worst thing at the end of her rant about this guys being a moron was that she said :

“I won’t judge you no matter what you do, I am totally still in love with that guy, *C-face*, We can’t resist each other and the cycle continues”

If ever I saw a toxic relationship, this is one, while they are still no where near a proper relationship, their connection is like one in a terrible romance drama. Ive seen it before with my best friend from high school. It’s a cycle that starts up with anger and passion and tragedy and continues, The best example I would have to give would be Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath, two of my favourite poets, who’s love was focused around destruction.

You can read my post on why Pre-Relationship Break Ups Suck : HERE

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5 Reasons Why the Pre-Relationship Break Ups are Hard. 30 Entries for 30 Days, Number 12

I had never really heard of the concept of the Pre- Relationship break up until yesterday where I was pouring out my little heart to my dear friend, Lacey. I was mid sentence about Cody, The Tinder Fling, and she just knew, you know? It’s a destructive relationship that will only end in pain but the good outweighs the bad – more on that later. It is a pre-relationship relationship.

  1. Telling other people about it seems pathetic since your one month dating romance is nothing by comparison to your poor friend who just got out of a three year relationship.
  2. And when you do tell other people, they roll their eyes and tell you to run.
    The best advice I was given was from Lacey, “Run, Run Like Hell” but in the same breath, she gets it after having this toxic pre-relationship relationship creating a vicious cycle and tells me to stay because no matter what, the feelings you get when you are with this person outweigh all the torture your little heart will withstand.
  3. You have absolutely no leverage, no one else can tell him he’s being a moron since there is a high chance only a few people know of you. And even then, the truth is distorted.
  4. Unless you have been in a toxic pre-relationship relationship, there is a high chance you won’t be able to understand why your friend is so hung up on a guy she was only dating for a month.
  5. And worst of all, You will never know what could have been.

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