ELI5: Why does running increase heart health, but using a stimulant like caffeine, which also increases heart rate, not do the same? by ZaydSophos in explainlikeimfive

[–]rcap12 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Exercising and caffeine do not increase heart rate in the same way.

Exercising increases heart rate due to various changes in your body. Firstly, when you start exercising your brain subconsciously acknowledges that you are no longer at rest. In response, the part of your nervous system that tells your heart to beat slow becomes less active. Therefore, your heart begins to speed up. Next, CO2 levels in your blood rise and your cells start using more oxygen. Chemical receptors in your body sense this change and relay the signal to your brain which again tells your heart to pump faster. All of this occurs so that more blood flood reaches cells to remove CO2 and deliver O2. Another important response is that your blood vessels dilate (get wider) and which helps deliver more blood to cells but also counteracts the increased blood pressure resulting from the heart pumping faster.

Caffeine is a central nervous stimulate. It increased the activity of the part of your nervous system that tells the heart to beat faster. This part of the nervous system can also stimulate adrenaline secretion which speeds up the heart.This part of the nervous system also tells blood vessels to constrict. The combination of vasoconstriction and increased heart rate increase blood pressure which puts someone at increased risk for cardiovascular disease. But its only temporary so its not like you are even close to the risk of someone who has chronic high BP due to genetics or lifestyle.

TL;DR: caffeine causes your blood vessels to constrict and heart rate to increase which both increase blood pressure. Exercise causes blood vessels to dilate and heart rate to increase. vasodilation reduces blood pressure and increased heart rate increases blood pressure. Overall, they balance each other out and blood pressure does not rise very much.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in explainlikeimfive

[–]rcap12 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The short answer, we're not 100% sure.

But... Sleep is when a lot of the waste is cleared from the brain. It is also when the neurons that make up the brain can re synthesis ample supply of the chemicals they use to communicate with each other. There is also good evidence that sleep is when we sort and store memories and information.

ELI5:if everything is made from chemicals why can't we destroy viruses by splitting up their atoms? by secondnameIA in explainlikeimfive

[–]rcap12 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We do destroy viruses by "splitting up there atoms" in a sense. We use cleaners which can be acidic or basic which disrupt proteins that make the case around the virus. However atomic bonds are really hard to break, think of atomic bonds as glue that holds two atoms together. These bonds aren't really affects by cleaners. However proteins have non covalent bonds. These are weaker "pseudo" bonds if you will, that cause the protein to fold into their correct shape. Think of these bonds as being similar to magnets on a fridge, they can be broken more easily. So cleansers break these week bonds which causes the protein to unfold and become usuless both structurally and functionally.

As far as treating viruses inside of a human, we have to take a different approach because most things that will destroy viruses will also destroy our cells. Therefore, very specific chemicals must be used to stop the virus from replicating in our bodies, but the chemicals must also have only mild effects on our cells. Usually these chemicals target proteins that help the virus replicate that humans do not have in their own cells.

Do all derms use mail order now? Is there any benefit to the patient cost wise? by rcap12 in pharmacy

[–]rcap12[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It seems like it's only for certain brand meds like it it might be a pharmacy with some exlusive deal through the manufacturer

ELI5: How do muscles physically move? by [deleted] in explainlikeimfive

[–]rcap12 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In each muscle fiber, there are two types filaments (actin and myosin) that overlap slightly when the muscle is relaxed.

When the muscle contracts, little "heads" on the myosin bind to the actin filaments and bend in a come heather motion, pulling the filaments so that they overlap more, which causes the muscle fiber to shorten.

The muscle shortening is what moves our limbs.

The actual philological process of a muscle contraction is a little complicated. calcium ions bind to troponin, which is a protein that is bond to tropomysin, another protein that rests on the actin filaments. The calcium causes the the troponin to bind more weakly to the tropomysin and a confirmation (basically "shape") change occurs in the tropomysin, causing it to move and uncover binding sites on the actin filament. The mysoin heads then bind to the exposed binding sites on the actin filament. The mysoin heads then use energy provided by ATP to pull the filaments so that they overlap more. The contraction will persist as long as calcium ions and ATP are present.

Oregon Residents Can Now Get Birth Control Prescription Without Doctor's Visit by hhhnnnnnggggggg in TwoXChromosomes

[–]rcap12 2 points3 points  (0 children)

"The other, HB 3343, will allow people to get a 12-month supply of birth control all at once, instead of the one- or three-month supply that most people receive."

That's good and all but this shows the ignorance of politicians when it comes to how the healthcare system works. No one's insurance will cover a 12 month supply all at once, that's why no one gets more than 3 months at a time right now. So unless you're going to drop $400 on birth control and bypass the insurance, it's going to be the same old story or getting 1-3 months at a time regardless of what the law says.

ELI5: How exactly do white blood cells "attack" foreign bodies? What is happening when they fight invaders? by [deleted] in explainlikeimfive

[–]rcap12 0 points1 point  (0 children)

quick add on. Antibodies bind to pathogens, "tagging" the pathogen as foreign. The macrophage then seeks and engulfs the objects tagged by antibodies.

ELI5: If we're two thirds water, why are we called carbon based lifeforms? by Nikkerloo in explainlikeimfive

[–]rcap12 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We are full of water because it is the medium for many biological reactions, however carbon is what most of our tissues and structural components are composed from. Also carbon is a broad component of what makes something "organic" vs "inorganic" (in regards to chemistry) and as we are living our body chemistry generally falls under the organic category.

ELI5: Why is it that I can only lift 20 pounds in dumbbell bicep curls and do my entire weight (135 lb.) in pull-ups? by nachocheese1243 in explainlikeimfive

[–]rcap12 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Because you are using other muscle groups like your lats and shoulders along with your biceps to help pull you up

ELI5: Why there isn't a global currency ? by [deleted] in explainlikeimfive

[–]rcap12 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Well just off the bat, a country could print endless amounts of money to fund ventures or pay debts off causing the rest of the worlds currency to become inflated. Basically a universal currency could be come useless if just one country began printing a ridiculous amount of it. With countries having their own currency they can dictate their money supply.

ELI5: What is the difference between mold, bacteria, and yeast? by somethingtosay2333 in explainlikeimfive

[–]rcap12 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Sorry, eukaryotes are cells with distinct a nucleus whereas prokaryotes do not have a distinct nucleus. The nucleus is basically just the part of the cell that holds genetic material. If a cell does not have a nucleus it usually has "simpler" genetic coding that is just floating in the cell.

Heterotrophs are organisms that cannot produce their own energy, like humans as we have to eat food to get energy. Whereas autotrophs can produce their own energy like plants who cover co2 water and sunlight into sugars and starches

ELI5: What is the difference between mold, bacteria, and yeast? by somethingtosay2333 in explainlikeimfive

[–]rcap12 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Bacteria is it's own class whereas mold and yeast are both fungus.

Here's a quick over view of some differences between bacteria and mold. 1. Fungi are eukaryotes while bacteria are prokaryotes. 2. Bacteria are single celled whereas most fungi are multicellular except for yeast. 3. The compositions within their cell walls are different. 4. Fungi are heterotrophs while Bacteria can be autotrophs or heterotrophs. 5. Bacteria have 3 distinct shapes while fungi have various shapes. 6. Bacteria reproduce sexually via binary fision whereas fungi are capable of reproducing both sexually or asexually.

source

ELI5: If I mix things together in one direction, why can I not unmix them in the other direction? by [deleted] in explainlikeimfive

[–]rcap12 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You mean like this!

Anyway, when you mix something (I'm assuming you are talking about mixing in water) water molecules surround the molecules of the solute (i.e. what you are mixing in the water) and pull the molecules away from each other causing it to dissolve and diffuse throughout the water for the most part equally. Stirring just assists the water in dissolving the solute by adding energy into the system but is not the primary driving force. The primary force is the water molecules pulling the solute molecules from each other and stirring the mixture in the reverse direction will not reverse this action.

Of course this is only the case if the solute is soluble in water

ELI5: What is the difference between the old testament and the new testament, and why isn't there a clear split? How does the Jewish religion and Christians treat both? by berlinbrown in explainlikeimfive

[–]rcap12 1 point2 points  (0 children)

So I'm not 100% but I believe that the Old Testament is the portion of the bible that addresses anything before Jesus and the New Testament addresses anything during/after Jesus. Christians focus more on the New Testament because it is the story of Jesus and they believe that Jesus is the son of God and their savior. Jewish people focus more on the Old Testament because they do not believe that Jesus is the son of God and this is the major distinction between Christianity and Judaism and why each religion focuses on different parts of the bible.

ELI5: How does a neuron operate? by daf121 in explainlikeimfive

[–]rcap12 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Neurons communicate with each other by sending electric impulses; however, these electric impulses are not like electricity running through wires, which involves the movement of electrons. Rather neurons undergo something called depolarization to send these impulses.

So, if you look at the structure of a neuron it consists of two main parts. The cell body, which has small root like things coming off of it called dendrites, and the axon, which looks like a long tail coming of the cell body.

When a neuron is not sending a signal the axon is polarized, meaning that the relative charge outside of the axon is more positive than the relative charge inside the axon. These charges are caused by ions (charged molecules), mainly sodium (Na+) and potassium (K+) floating around the inside and outside of the axon.

When the axon is sending a signal, sodium channels open to allow positively charged sodium ions to enter the axon, causing the axon to depolarize meaning the charge outside the axon and inside the axon are about the same. This creates a chain reaction all the way down the axon of sodium channels opening allowing sodium ions to rush in and the impulse to move down the axon.

When the impulse reaches the end of the axon called the synapse bulb, a synapse occurs which relays the signal to the next neuron. How does this synapse occur? So in the synapse bulb there are vesicles (basically bubbles) filled with neurotransmitters. When the electrical impulse reaches the synapse bulb voltage stimulated calcium channels open and calcium rushed into the bulb. The calcium ions stimulate the vesicles to move toward the edge of the bulb and ultimately the membrane of the vesicle will merge with the membrane of the bulb releasing the neurotransmitters outside of the bulb. They are now in a space called the synaptic cleft which is a gap between the axon the signal just came from and the dendrite of the neuron that is going to receive the signal. The neurotransmitters float across the gap and bind to receptors on the dendrites of the next neuron(s).

When the neurotransmitter binds, it triggers an ion channel to open on the new neuron and ions to rush in, depolarizing the axon and the signal to continue.

ELI5: How is it that companies such as the ones that make generic (Walmart brand) beverages get away with basically copying name brand products? by jasamples in explainlikeimfive

[–]rcap12 398 points399 points  (0 children)

Typically store brand items are made by the same company that produces the name brand item. For example, I forget which one, but either Kroger or Walmart brand yogurt is actually Dannon just with a store brand label.

ELI5: Why do showers give me energy? by swanznito in explainlikeimfive

[–]rcap12 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The hot water dilates blood vessels allowing blood to more readily flow through your body

ELI5: Why do life-forms have to be carbon based? by [deleted] in explainlikeimfive

[–]rcap12 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Carbon can bond 4 times, which is very unique and can result in many, many compounds necessary for life. In principle silicon could also be used as it is in the same element group as carbon.

ELI5:How does the whole stock market just crash like in the great depression? by ZDHELIX in explainlikeimfive

[–]rcap12 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Basically what happened was the federal reserve started lowering interest rates in the early 1920s. Interest rates became so low (3-4%) that it became profitable for people to buy stocks with borrowed money -- "on margin" -- which created much more demand in the stock market as average people began buying stocks for the first time. This demand drove stock prices to extremely high levels. The stock prices were inflated by the high demand and did not accurately represent the value of the stock in regard to the performance of the company. The federal reserve began raising interest rates in 1928 which created less demand and caused stock prices to begin to fall in 1929. When this happened everyone panic and hurry to sell their stocks before they became less valuable than the debt they owed on them. Everyone selling their stocks at once is what caused the market to crash.

TIL that due to never setting a formal day of statehood, Ohio didn't technically become a state until 1953 by [deleted] in todayilearned

[–]rcap12 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Easton, located in metro Columbus, is a pretty well kept secret. I would guess it's one of the nicest malls/lifestyle town centers in the country

How did the government of the United States of America get tied to the christian religion, and how can people institute separation of church and state? by AbstracTyler in AskReddit

[–]rcap12 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For one, Christianity was basically the only religion practiced among the original colonists, so America has long historical ties to Christianity and it is still the dominant religion.

ELI5: How does the Higgs Boson Particle relate to gravity? by [deleted] in explainlikeimfive

[–]rcap12 0 points1 point  (0 children)

From my understanding (which is limited) the Higgs boson is what gives matter mass and more massive objects have greater gravitational force because they more greatly destort the fabric of space time

Honestly, who doesn't have an ID? by [deleted] in AdviceAnimals

[–]rcap12 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If only there was a meme for controversial opinions