Sunday 23 June 2013


Whenever a muscle contracts, it needs energy. This energy is released through a process called respiration. Respiration is the process by which glucoseis converted to  energy. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellular_respiration)

The release of this energy is actually the breakdown of a chemical called Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) During this reaction, two new chemicals are formed: Adenosine Diphosphate (ADP) and phosphate (P).Since there is a limited amount of this in cells, ATP must be rebuilt from these two products. (http://www.s-cool.co.uk/gcse/pe/how-the-body-obtains-its-energy/revise-it/muscle-respiration )

This is known as muscle respiration, and can happen in two ways.

Aerobic: glucose + oxygen    →    carbon dioxide + water (+ energy)
Anerobic: glucose    →    lactic acid (+ energy)

Aerobic respiration is by far the most efficient (we get more energy from it) and is what almost all organisms use to survive. Glucose, from the digestion of food (usually carbohydrates), and oxygen from the air inhaled, is delivered to cells in the bloodstream. Carbon Dioxide is then breathed out, and water is left in the blood/cell or breathed out as vapor.

When excercising hard, your heart may not be able to get enough Oxygen to your muscles, and in this case respiration becomes Anerobic. This is the incomplete breakdown of glucose and  releases only 5% of the energy per molecule of glucose. The waste product is lactic acid, not Carbon Dioxide and Water. This is how your muscles get energy in the event of an oxygen shortage.

However, long periods of anerobic respiration may cause muscle fatigue. This means they stop contracting efficiently. One cause of this is the build up of lactic acid in the muscles.

This is harmful, as a buildup od lactic acid interferes with electrical signals in your muscles and nerves, impaire muscle contraction and slows energy reaction. This hydrogen ion concentration is what causes the burning sensation you feel when experiencing fatigue.


After exercise, muscles need to recover. They go through a two-stage process of Oxygen Debt Recovery in order to do this. An Oxygen Debt is the amount of enery needed to oxidise Lactic Acid to Carbon Dioxide and Water

The first stage is Excess lactic acid materials are either sent into the bloodstream or processed within the muscle cells. The amounts that remain in the cells are broken down inside a chemical pathway called the TCA cycle--also known as the citric acid cycle. This cycle happens when muscles are in oxygen debt. The TCA cycle converts lactic acid materials into ATP molecules for use as energy by the cells. The ATP molecules produced through the TCA cycle are used to manufacture glucose molecules. Glucose molecules are the raw materials used to fuel aerobic respiration processes.
The Cori cycle takes place when muscles are in a state of oxygen recovery. About 70 percent of excess lactic acid materials are sent into the bloodstream and absorbed by the liver. The liver's job is to convert these materials into pyruvic acid and send them back to the affected muscle cells through the bloodstream. The pyruvic acid materials enable cells to rebuild their glucose or glycogen reserves until normal oxygen supplies are restored within the cells.


Friday 10 May 2013

It's Been A While...

Hello All,

So stuff happened. I got 58 subscribers, my relationship has been going almost 5 months, and I've had a couple of emotional breakdowns along the way. I also came out as asexual, which was as messy and relieving and uttertly underwhelming as you might expect. But now I am back because I need to express myself again. I am ready and recharged.

I feel like I've grown into myself. I know what I love and what I want and how to get it, and I have my eyes fixed on a horizon. As Augustus Walters so eloquently put it, "I'm on a rollercoaster that only goes up"

Stay Different,
Your Skye

Saturday 2 February 2013

You & I are Starbright

So today was the first day of spring. Even if it wasn't spring, it was.

You know what I mean. The light held warmth and you could feel the sun on your back and everything was tinged with gold. It was the kind of day that is remembered in sepia tone and thought of during long, balmy Thursday evenings. Today was one such day, the first of the year, and though I spent much of it in a much too bright dance studio fighting down an anxiety attack and intense desire to be elsewhere, I enjoyed it.

And in the dizzy splendor I realised something, something very important. Before, for reasons I cannot yet articulate, I doubted it, but now I am sure. So I can say to you, completely sound in my heart, this:

I love him. I love him utterly, and hopelessly, and I cannot picture a day when I won't. He is the living embodiment of the First Spring Day, a light that brightens all around him, a taste of some unknowable light, only much less pretentious and much more real.

It is in this mood that I link you to my newest video. It is an original song, named Starbright.

Here
And Egor, if you are reading this, I love you.

Stay Caring,
Your Skye

Sunday 20 January 2013

Stressed To The Point Of Oblivion.

Hello All,

I truly love learning. I would say it is my chief enjoyment, equalled only by my love of tea. The thing is, the things I detest more than any other are exams. I don't mean in oh-I-am-so-nervous, I-cant-be-bothered way. I mean in a hands balled into fists, trying not to have a breakdown, crushing fear kind of way. I hate them more than anything else.

It is for this exact reason that I am now blogging instead of revising. It feels as if the world will come crumbling down if I do this. How absurd am I? I am an almost straight a student, and I am terrified.

I hate this culture of standardised tests. Learning is a highly personal and individual affair. Human production lines were always doomed to marginalise some, and people will forever be falling through the cracks. I am not saying I am going to be one of those people, but this is a problem, and my racing heart and uncontrollable shivers when faced with the prospect of my exam reminded me of this.

Something needs to change. However, I cannot do anything now, I am too busy revising. ;)

Stay Conformist,
Your Skye

Saturday 19 January 2013

Ah, Winter

Dear all,

It is on days like this that winter utterly bewitches me. The snow has ceased falling, but where I am it is untouched. I feel like a princess in a tower, with the snow the thorns that keep others from disturbing me. Safe. It feels safe.

In Other News

I have to revise for a dratted science test, but I took a different approach from the norm. At least now the harshness of education is lessened somewhat.


 In addition, I re-made my inspiring shelf, and I am pleased with the result. I think when my room gets re-done, I shall be going down the Peter-Pan / Alice In Wonderland / Snow White route. A princess is a princess after-all.


Good day, dear invisible reader.

Stay Different,
Your Skye

Friday 18 January 2013

Diary Entry #1 Fleeting Moments...

Dear Journal,

It was snowing, but it stopped, and that made me feel a parculiar kind of sad. Almost a tender kind of despair, as soft and as heartbreakingly fleeting as the snow itself. There is music playing, but everything is blurred and quiet. Like I'm alone in the house, in the country, in the world. It's odd, and never has the world melancholy seemed appropriate...

Skye x

Saturday 29 December 2012

Of The Mortal Instruments

It is a life ruining set of books, and their fandom ship incest more openly than any other... (Well, aside from the Potterheads, but since when have Potterheads paid attention to social convention? They ship a giant and a spider for gods sake)

Anyways, I vlogged about it. So go watch or whatever!!

CLICK!

Stay Different,
Your Skye