3. Explain One Aspect Of Mrs. A's Disorder Using Biological Theory

Foster states, “Essentially, all the stuff we've burned up during the day, we restore, we replace, we rebuild during the night.” Foster also explains that “Within the brain, a whole raft of genes have been shown to be turned on only during sleep, and those genes are associated with restoration and metabolic pathways.” I agree with Foster’s first explanation of why we sleep. Sleep helps repair and renew tissue and nerve cells, the neutralization of neurotoxins, and the restoration of normal levels of chemicals throughout our bodies. Sleep can also heal the body physically. For example, it can heal wounds, strengthen the immune system, and increase growth hormone levels in the

One approach to explain Mrs A’s sleep disorder is by using the Biological approach which believes us to be as a consequence of our genetics and physiology. It is the only approach in psychology that examines thoughts, feelings, and behaviors from a biological and thus physical point of view. Mrs A. is experiencing Insomnia due to disturbing her Circadian rhythm which are a variety of behavioural and physiological functions synchronised to the 24 cycle of light and dark These include heart rate, breathing, alertness, excretion and a metabolic rae. These reach a maximum level in the late afternoon and early evening and a minimum level in the early morning. The circadian sleep -waking rhythm determines our alertness and activity levels during the day and night. So by Mrs. A waking up and increasing her alertness and activity levels by using her ipad she is disrupting her circadian rhythm and thus the endogenous pacemakers or internal body clock of the suprachiasmatic nucleus and the pineal gland which humans use to regulate this are further being disrupted due to her Circadian rhythm being out of sync.

It is no secret that, similar to other animals, sleep is one of the most important things for a human being’s overall health. According to Watson and Breedlove, there are four main biological/neurological functions of sleep: energy conservation—the body uses less energy when it is asleep through what is called slow-wave sleep (SWS) by doing things such as reducing body temperature and slowing respiration; niche adaptation—the environmental happenings to which organisms are adapted to; body restoration—it restores materials used during awake hours; and memory consolidation—SWS and REM sleep help the brain consolidate memories from the previous day (2012).

Not many courses introduce the idea of sleep, so it had only been a side interest. I was unaware of the seriousness of the problem and only wanted to understand sleep disorders because I’ve dealt with insomnia myself. Not until college did it occur to me that sleep was serious enough that studying sleep was a profession. However, school has only taught me the minimal basics of sleep. I wanted to understand the mechanism, the consequences, and the treatments for sleep. Unable to get a better idea of sleep, I aimed to learn more about sleep research. Eventually through graduate research, I would like to focus on understanding sleep and its application in improving health.

Sleep effects every living organism on the world, whether it is positive or negative it has an impact on everyone. There are many different stages of sleep and each containing its own purpose. Sleep isn’t as simple and unnecessary as many believe it to be; sleep has the power to cause many different disorders and can even cause death if a person is deprived from sleep for too long. Sleep can also effect the brain and how the brain functions on a daily basis. Sleep is an important factor of life that should not be over looked. If enough sleep occurs there are many advantages that can make one’s life more healthy and beneficial.

Sleep is undoubtedly one of the most essential requirements for the human body to function properly. It plays a very important role in ensuring the wellness of the human body both physically as well as mentally. In fact, the importance of sleep is clear from the fact that it helps you in maintaining a good lifestyle throughout our entire lifetime. Not only does it help maintain our physical and mental health; rather it also helps in maintaining a decent and healthy lifestyle along with ensuring safety from a number of fatal diseases. It is usually said that the mood in which you wake up is largely dependent on the type of sleep you have been in. This in itself is a big proof of the importance of sleep in our lives. While sleeping, our body finally gets its share of rest and it also gets ample time in rejuvenating from all the wear and tear that it went through during the entire day. Not only this, the body is in its own working condition when we are sleeping as this is the time when it supports the healthy functioning of the brain as well as physical attributes of our body.

Before this class I wasn’t really sure what was going on during sleep but this class has informed me how important and crucial sleep really is. The book talks about how during a period of sleep the body is restoring and repairing itself because of the increased amount of growth hormones that are released during sleep. It also talks about how it's thought that there is an increase metabolic rate in the brain during sleep which allows a person be be more alert and efficient when a person is awake. I always thought that sleep was important and did something to benefit the body but I had no idea about how different hormones were released during sleep. The book also talks about how humans can live longer without food then without sleep, and after about 11 days a person will die. I just think it’s so amazing how a body has this complex system to restore itself, it’s mind

Why do we sleep is an age-old question. Scientists have studied sleep and its purpose for many years. They have conducted countless amounts of studies and have performed many experiments. Despite scientist’s efforts, there still is no concrete answer to this question. But there are several theories that might shine a light on why we sleep. Some of the possible theories to this are the brain plasticity theory, the restorative theory, and the information consolidation theory.

“Why did you sleep in so late?” A question everyone has been asked and then abruptly replied with “I guess I was just tired.” But why were you tired? Well to be completely honest we don’t know for sure. But we do have theories on why we may sleep, including the: Inactivity Theory, Energy Conservation Theory, Restorative Theories, and the Brain Plasticity Theory. These theories are still very controversial for most scientists. Even though we don't know why, we do know it’s necessary to survive since its reflexive and it enables us able to function.

Restorative theory of sleep is brain restorative and adaptive theory of sleep is body restorative.

Sleep is a curious function in almost all living things, however, some animals don’t sleep, some hibernate, and others have a constant cycle of sleep. The field of evolutionary psychology tries to explain this phenomenon. There are several hypotheses concerning the human sleep cycle. Some suggested adaptive reason from Psychology are the following: like bears in hibernation, we sleep to save and replenish resources; we sleep in safe places to reduce risk from predators in the night; finally, we may sleep to increase cognitive function. (Psychology, 2014) However, humans are not the only species adaptions seem to evolve for adaptive reasons.

Sleep is the period when various body processes take place, including cell regeneration, an essential process for growing infants. It is the time when your baby’s length and weight increases due to the growth hormones released during sleep. Growth hormones are not only important for muscular and skeletal growth, but also for mental and cognitive development. Proper rest periods also stimulate the growth of toenails, fingernails, hair follicles and skin.

There are many theories scientists have made for way we sleep. Inactivity theory states humans use to sit still for long periods of time to wait out their predators and it is now manifested in the form of sleep. Energy conservation theory states that we sleep to conserve our energy to search for food, or in modern times, work. Restorative theory states we sleep to renew our bodies and minds. Then, there is the brain plasticity theory which states that we sleep so that our brains can grow.

Functions and causes of sleep In the following paragraphs, I will introduce two theories of sleep to explain the functions of sleep and paraphrase circadian rhyme to interpret the causes of sleep. First and foremost, restorative theory focuses on physiology aspect of sleep, which claimed that sleep is a physiological repair. Oswald who is a sleep researcher proposed that Non-REM sleep and REM sleep have specific functions, he argued that REM sleep repair for the brain whereas non-REM sleep repair for the body.

 A most popular theory on why we sleep is the restorative theory of sleep: