Joanne's Blog for BIOL 520

The rise of life style associated diseases are typically defined as non-communicable diseases that are caused by external environmental factors. One disease that has been identified to increase in frequency within industrialized countries is irritable bowel syndrome. Irritable bowel syndrome has been identified as a chronic disorder of the large intestine that leads to symptoms of cramping, gas, diarrhea etc. Often, the broadly attributed factor of IBS is increasing poor lifestyle choices such as physical activity, sleep disturbances, and an unhealthy environment. There are a few hypotheses that analyze the reason for the rise of IBS in the world.   One of the hypothesized causes of IBS' rise is due to the lifestyle factor of stress. Stress is a factor that can cause a lot of bodily ailments when allowed to persists since it keeps the body in a constant state of alertness. In an increasingly modern and high paced world, the need to stay busy and be active has been investigated...

While this year was a difficult year, I wouldn't say all was lost for me. While I did lose out on a lot of opportunities (volunteering, shadowing, etc.) that I was going to do to help me prepare for my medical school application, it ended up giving me a well needed expanse of time that I could spend at home to focus on studying the MCAT instead. Since no hospitals were offering opportunities (which makes sense in consideration of the patients and the medical staff), I had no choice but to give my undivided attention to the MCAT. Also, the MCAT was shortened, which was great since the length of time was so crazy to stay focused for (from 7 hours and 30 mins to 5 hours and 45 mins). I didn't realize how well and how long I could study until this past summer, which helped rid me of some of my own personal misconceptions of myself and my ability to focus. I think I was stretched so thin with all of the classes I took that I thought I had an inability to retain information well. It ...