Ideal Receptions Of "Medical Experts"

In a day and age where social media plays a significant role in a person’s day to day life, every person is inevitably going to befriend a “medical expert.” They are the individuals who allegedly have figured out all of the perfect tricks to staying healthy and are determined to share their knowledge with people all around the world. While their endless posts can be a little frustrating and monotonous, it is easy to find oneself reading through the article.

When everyone has a different idea on how to prevent illnesses, it opens the door for more and more questions such as “how does the human immune system function?”, “what external factors play a role on the immune system?”, and “how do I prevent myself from getting sick?”The first and most scientific question that a person will begin to ask themself is “how does the immune system actually function?”

The human immune system is composed of two main parts: the innate immune system and the adaptive immune system.

The main role of the innate immune system, or the nonspecific immune system, is to serve as the first line of defense against any outside invaders. The innate immune system is composed of B and T cells, as well as the skin. It responds to any attackers upon contact, and works to reduce the workload for the adaptive immune system. The adaptive immune system, also known as the specific immune system, serves as true defense system. It is responsible for catching everything that finds its way through the innate immune system and preventing it from spreading throughout the body.

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The adaptive Donovan 2immune system holds all of the body’s health history and prevents a person from contracting the same viruses several times.

It can easily be recognized that the adaptive immune system is far more complex than the innate immune system. Likewise it causes more issues when the system goes haywire. The ultimate goal of the adaptive immune system is to kill and destroy foreign substances. If the system changes courses and begins to misread healthy cells as foreign substances, the body will begin to turn on itself and cause a person to suffer from a autoimmune disease. It is evident that the human immune system is adequately strong internally. However, when external factors find a way into the immune system, they often are capable of shifting the immune system enough to allow a person to become sick. One major factor that will easily shift a person’s immune system is exposure to animals. For some people, it is hard to remember a time when everyone wasn’t talking about the correct age to expose children to animals.

However, recent studies have shown that early exposure is the key to preventing animal-influenced illness. In 2016, the National Institute of Health conducted a research regarding animals effect on toddler and preschool age children. The studies showed that children who were under the age of one when exposed to livestock at a young age were far less likely to develop allergies and asthma when they they grow up. The finding of the National Institute of Health was supported by the findings of a seperate researcher’s works. When the University of Eastern Finland conducted a similar study, they determined that growing up around farm animals proved to be beneficial to the human immune system. In their study Professor Kaario concluded that “imulation with lipopolysaccharide resulted in a lower percentage of dendritic cells in the peripheral blood mononuclear cell cultures of farm Donovan 3children as compared to those of non-farm children.”

Overall, the exposure given at a young age worked to alter the overall immunology. The University of Eastern Finland’s research also showed that dogs and cats will have a different effect from that of cattle and hogs. Due to the significantly difference in size of general livestock and domestic pets, the livestock will change the immune system significantly more. Another factor that will play a major role in the strength of the human immune system is stress. There are three main stages that occur when a person is becoming stressed out. The first stage is the fight or flight stage where a person has yet to determine whether they are in danger or not. This is the short period in which a person will act in response to the stress. The second stage is the coping strategies stage. This is the point when our body is coming to the realization of the amount of stress.

The coping strategies stage is the time where the body tries to develop a game plan to continue living with the stress. The final stage of stress is known as exhaustion. At this point, the body begins to throw the towel in and accepts its fate. This is the stage that the immune system will begin to show a true deterioration from stress. The Ohio State University College of Medicine conducted a study on the students within the school in their final week (Stress Weakens”; American Psychology Association). A couple weeks prior to the finals week, the researchers collected their constant samples of blood to determine the number of natural killer cells and T cells. The individuals conducting the tests collected samples of blood from the same students in the middle of their finals week. The sample that was collected in the middle of finals week displayed a far lower number of natural killer cells. Additionally, there were virtually no T cells remaining in their blood.

In response to the deterioration, students were far more likely to get sick during finals week. Additionally, they were more likely to develop a mental illness. Through all of the terrifying diseases that are present within the United States, it is important to be in search of possible preventative measures that are available to them. The first preventative step that a person can take is to get the flu shot. While the flu shot will never guarantee a 100% defense from the flu, it will prevent people from contracting certain strands of the flu. During 2018 alone, there have been over 170 children who have died from the flu. Although flu shots cost absolutely nothing to most people who are covered by an insurance plan, most people do not take the time to get the immunization (Walmart). For example, in a study conducted within Haxtun High School, students were asked whether or not they had gotten the flu shot (Donovan).

Out of 71 students whom were surveyed, only 30 percent had gotten the flu vaccination as seen in Figure 1. Out of these same students, people were reporting to become sick between two and four times a year(Donovan). Fig. 1. A pie chart displays the comparison of the students who received the flu vaccination and those who did not. As shown, only 30% of students were vaccinated. Another almost obvious preventative measure available is washing hands constantly. Everywhere a person goes they will see signs encouraging people to wash their hands. This is one of the most simple ways to prevent yourself from getting sick. Throughout the course of the day, a person will come into contact with thousands of objects. Of these items, there are germs that will find an easy access point through the eyes and mouth which are subconsciously touched a person constantly.

Statistically, washing hands has been beneficial to the human immune system. People who wash their hands frequently are 31 percent less likely to become ill with diarrhea. It also reduces the likelihood of becoming sick with a cold to almost 20 percent(“Show”). The third most beneficial measure a person can take to help prevent becoming sick is increasing the amount of vitamin C that is consumed daily. The body’s purpose for vitamin C is to assist with the repair of tissue (Ehrlich) . However, the body cannot naturally store vitamin C, so a constant intake is necessary to keep levels up. During the winter when the weathers are becoming more harsh, it is important to increase your intake of vitamin C. One way to take in more vitamin C is to simply eat more citric fruits such as oranges and tomatoes (Ehrlich). A supplement can be made with the EmergenC drink line now available.

Social media has found a way to become a staple piece of oursociety in the United States. People have far passed the point of sharing vacation pictures with their friends and family. Instead, now scrolling through a newfeed can bring you everything from the pizza a person ate for lunch to the ever-so-addicting Buzzfeed articles. Mixed in with all of the gossip and the lunches, there will be intermingled articles about topics such as medical advice. As a person looks into these articles, they will be able to sift through the masses of contradictory information to find the truths behind each article. These truths can include everything including the basic sciences of the human immune system, the external factors that alter the immune system, and the long, long list of preventative measures that can be taken to prevent from becoming sick. Hopefully with time, everyone will be able to sort through the fake news.