My body is amazing!

So I decided the other day that my body (and everyone's) is pretty amazing. This came about after an injury. You may ask, "How does your body not working properly provide evidence to the wonder that is your body?" Well, just like the scientific technique of knock-out mice gives you information on how we work.

Wait, just a minute, don't let me lose you yet... knock-out mice are a very cool and sophisticated biological experimental technique to see what genes do what. A quick bio summary - basically in our bodies (and the bodies of mice and other animals) our DNA determines everything about us - to whether we have blue eyes or brown, to whether we have 4 legs or 2. And in each of us, every cell in our body has the same DNA. That means that the DNA in our eye cells are the same as the DNA in our stomach cells - what determines an eye cell from a stomach cell is which genes in our DNA are turned on and off. If a gene is turned on, it produces proteins which can turn on or turn off other genes or signal to other parts of the cells to work as they should work. There is a very tight regulation of this protein synthesis. When some genes are turned on when they aren't supposed to turn on or turn off when they aren't supposed to turn off, diseases often occur. A knock out mice, takes a gene that a mouse normally has, and turns it completely off. So the protein that affects the whole cell and how it functions never gets made by that gene and can therefore greatly modify how certain cells work. Hopefully, I haven't lost you yet, but to make a knock out mouse is difficult, so you have to have a good idea what the gene does before you knock it out, so you aren't wasting your time for years making the mouse. However, sometimes the knockout gene influences systems that you don't suspect. Some proteins are involved in many different pathways to make our bodies run properly, such as the one that binds testosterone (it is called androgen receptor) that can be important in sexual development and maintenance and in development of muscle mass.

Anyways, taking all that information to heart, let me get back on my original thought: my body is amazing. The other day (May 8) I went snowboarding (yes, I went snowboarding in May, and the snow was pretty good, and it was beautiful and sunny, and I could have gone back down to Salt Lake Valley and gone golfing if I had wanted). It was super fun, however, I fell because as someone was trying to pass me on a narrow bit of the trail, they lost control, fell down in front of me, not giving me room to adjust and they tripped me. It was kinda a hard fall. I bruised my thigh and my shoulder was a little strained. My shoulder was feeling pretty good, but doing a simple thing of taking off my shirt one night a few days afterward I pulled or strained a muscle so badly that I couldn't move my arm and I was in incredible pain for a few hours - yes, there were tears. I iced it and tried to go to sleep. Anyways, for the next few days, I was so shocked at how many things my shoulder did in everyday life. I knew how important it was by all the pain I felt whenever I tried to move my arm to do mundane things, like moving my fingers to type on the keyboard, lifting my arm up to rest on the desk while I typed, moving my arm in the casual way that it swings when I walk, lifting my arm above my head to undress or dress, to pull up my pants, to pull my knots tight when I tie my shoes, to almost every movement of my arm in any direction whatsoever is very highly dependent on my shoulder.. very highly dependent. I had never realized so obviously how important every little part of my body is and how much it really is amazing. I was basically my own version of a 'knock out mouse' in that I wasn't able to use a part of my body for a time being (however, with knock out mice it is permanent) and I realized how much I loved and depended on that part of my body. Considering what our bodies can do, I am pretty amazing. It kinda makes me feel guilty for not utilizing it to its full capacity. I want to know the limits of what my body can do, and then I want to work past them to reach new heights. Also, realizing how your whole body is a cohesive work, that every part is critical, then it is easier to have a better body image. In addition to realizing that all of your body works together and as a whole it is amazing, then realizing how amazing it is, you want to protect it and keep it healthy and that can be a motivation in itself to live a healthier lifestyle, which will result in a better body image.

Anyways, I just thought I would share my thoughts on my appreciation for scientific techniques and the abstract idea of being a 'knock out mouse' and helping me be thankful for an injury. I can think of how my injury helped me realize how great my body really is. I need to appreciate it and be grateful for it a little bit more :). Hope you all can learn how amazing your body is (though preferably without the injury)... just look at yourself and say, my body is amazing and sense how true that statement is :)