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Our Stomach

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Charlotte

As a living organism, it is very necessary to have an activity which is called metabolism. Following this, metabolism is one of the criteria for the life of a living organism. Have a metabolism, meaning it both consumes energy and produces waste. To analyze this in-depth, after consuming food, the next step definitely is digestion. The most important organ for digestion is the stomach.




To begin with, the basic information of it is that the stomach is a muscular, hollow organ in the gastrointestinal tract of humans and many other animals, which include some invertebrates. In addition, the stomach lies between the esophagus and the duodenum which is the first part of the small intestine. The stomach is surrounded by parasympathetic and sympathetic plexuses. These are combinations of blood vessels and nerves where in the anterior gastric, posterior, superior and inferior, celiac, and myenteric. Furthermore, they can regulate both the secretory activity of the stomach and the motor activity of its muscles. By the way, I am sure that all of you know that the surrounding in a stomach is an acidic environment, which roughly is PH 2.


Following this, how does the stomach work? As I mentioned above, the stomach contains an acid known as stomach acid and it is also known as hydrochloric acid or HCl. That means it is corrosive. This can help us digest food and absorb the nutrients that we needed.



Besides, the movement of the stomach is called mixing waves and peristaltic waves. And both types of movement are derived from smooth muscle contractions in the stomach wall. This entire process takes roughly every 20 seconds. With more and more chyme going into the stomach, this lead to a stronger contraction which is called peristaltic waves. Furthermore, usually, the pyloric sphincter remains closed due to the mild tonic contraction. To empty stomach, this usually causes many times of movements of the stomach. However, the speed of emptying in the stomach could not become so fast because once the stomach empties so fast, the efficiency of digestion and absorption in the small intestine would be reduced. On the other hand, if the speed of emptying is too slow, the acids may damage our stomach wall. Therefore, our stomach must have a suitable empty speed rate. And our stomach contracts all the time. When you have an empty stomach, the contraction can take 2 to 3 minutes. Usually, hunger pangs begin 12 to 24 hours after a previous meal. Different people can result in different conditions. For some people, the time can take less. If nothing is ingested, hunger pangs would arrive at their maximum intensity within 3 or 4 days and then become progressively weaker.


It is also important that we need to have a healthy diet because eating too much or less would harm our stomachs. When you eat too much, the stomach would stretch past its normal capacity, leading to feeling overly full. If you eat too much at once, this may lead to severe stomach bleeding. Even though there is only a small amount of bleeding, this can occur over a long period, which leads to problems such as anemia or low blood counts. Once the bleeding site is found, the doctor usually treats the bleeding site and surrounding tissue with a heat probe, an electric current, or a laser. Because the bleeding can cause loss of iron. Therefore, during this time, it is better to eat some red meat or eggs.


In conclusion, it is important to protect our stomach as this is a crucial site for digesting our food. In addition, we can not eat too much at once because this can increase the pressure of emptying the stomach. As we all know, the stomach normally expands to hold one liter of food. The maximum stomach volume in adults is between 2 and 4 liters. By the way, a newborn baby only can retain about 30 milliliters. To avoid stomach pain after eating, we could not lay on a sofa or a bed, instead, we should walk slowly to digest some food first.

References

· Stomach. (2023, May 19). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stomach

· Movement in the Stomach. (n.d.). BrainKart. https://www.brainkart.com/

· Rennie. (2022). 2020 CH Rennie Brand Master. https://www.rennie.co.uk/

· Younkin, img ( 2021. (n.d.). ) What Happens to Your Body When You Eat Too Much. EatingWell. https://www.eatingwell.com/article/

· Mount Sinai - New York. (n.d.). Mount Sinai Health System. https://www.mountsinai.org/

· Treatment for GI Bleeding | NIDDK. (n.d.). National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. https://www.niddk.nih.gov/

· Care Instructions. (n.d.). Myhealth.alberta.ca. https://myhealth.alberta.ca/Health/aftercareinformation/pages/conditions.

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