My favorite part about Exercise Physiology was learning about the immune system. I generally find this system of the body most fascinating because of the amount of different pieces that come together for the same goal, fighting against pathogens. I enjoyed learning about the immune system in this class because it capitalized on my ability to learn about my research topic, “Short and Long Term Effects of Anabolic Steroids”, in both a positive and negative manner. From a positive aspect,  in class we talked about how inflammation is a process where white blood cells and chemicals protect the body against infection from bacteria and viruses . We also discussed how there are certain diseases, like autoimmune diseases, where the body doesn’t function properly and is overactive which can cause inflammation to work against the body’s own tissues and cause tissue damage. This related to my topic very well as it turned out that steroids can reduce the production of inflammatory chemicals in order to minimize tissue damage. From a negative aspect, we discussed in class the idea of the “Open Window Theory”, which talks about the idea of exercise induced immune system suppression, causing the body to be more susceptible to infection and diseases. In regards to my topic it was interesting as steroids that are used by powerlifters and body lifters can be dangerous because during post exercise they are already being affected by the open window theory. But on top of that, because of the suppression of inflammatory response of the immune system due to steroids, it can lead to higher cases of sickness and being prone to more infections. These two ideas really allowed me to differentiate between the positive and negative impacts of steroids.