Circadian Misalignment Research Paper

Morgan Manella in the article “Study: A Third of U.S. Adults Don’t Get Enough Sleep” argues that sleep deprivation can have a negative effect in someone’s health. Manella supports her argument by presenting statistics that shows how adults that don’t enough sleep have chronic conditions. The author’s purpose is to raise awareness so that people will sleep more often and have a better health condition.

Sleep is a beautiful thing, but people do not get enough of it. It is a time for the body to rejuvenate and process the events of the day. Sleeping is something that we seek out. Getting the recommended amount of sleep allows our body to function properly the next day. Without it, there could be detrimental consequences. The National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke says that without sleep, neurons could be “polluted with byproducts”. In severe cases, people who get very little sleep often experience mood swings, hallucinations and cells do not continue to reproduce.

This article explains the importance of getting the perfect amount of sleep at night. The idea that sleeping for less than five hours or more than nine hours proves to have a negative effect on the human body. Sleep deprivation has a closely related link to memory retention and can cause a person to have trouble with daily task. The author continues to explain that not only is the brain effected by too little or too much sleep, but the rest of the body is also effected. Conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and even depression have links to not getting the perfect amount of sleep. The article concludes with listing tips to get the ideal amount of sleep at night, such as, going to sleep and waking up at the same time every day and limiting the amount of caffeine that is consumed throughout the day.

Health problems like depression, hypertension, obesity and diabetes are related to the quality and amount of sleep you get.

Many individuals in our society struggle from lack of sleep from various different problems. In order to understand the reason why this is a problem I examined the circadian clock and how Melatonin fits in the natural “day/night” cycle and affects human sleeping patterns. Various studies using individuals with either insomnia, stressed college students or a history of sleep disorders measured the initial sleep disturbance patterns. The researchers performed double blind studies with both placebo and Melatonin in order to determine whether an external source of Melatonin helped with sleeping patterns to follow

Numerous dimensions of sleep are capable of predicting significant health outcomes. Inadequate sleep is a frequently explored area within research and respective associations have been drawn in regards to its effect on both mental and physical health (Kroese, Evers, Adriaanse, Ridder, 2016). Digdon and Howell (2008) note procrastination to be the inclination to postpone task commencement or conclusion, wavering actions, or the demonstration of insufficient time allotment for the accomplishment of tasks. Therefore, opting to go to bed later than primarily intended with no external influence is termed bedtime procrastination (Kroese., et al. 2016).

A person who is known as a night owl has a circadian phase sleep disorder known as Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome/Disorder (DSPS), this is when the person falls asleep “2-6 hours later relative to desired and socially conventional rise times”. This condition leads to societal and health disadvantages, resulting from inadequate amount of hours spent sleeping. With chronic inadequate sleep, DSPS can lead to weight gain, depression, anxiety disorders, diabetes, heart disease; however given the right environment a person can live with DSPS without ill effects. (3)

Sleep improves life in simple ways, especially in ways connected to health. One preliminary study concluded sleeping enough results in a stronger immune system. Other scientists have also completed studies on sleep and come to the conclusion that insufficient sleep definitely has a direct link to certain serious health problems, such as heart disease, heart attacks, diabetes, and obesity. Because proper sleep raises one's level of concentration, it also lowers one's risk of injury due to poor

I chose to review the article, “Sleep Duration Versus Sleep Insufficiency as Predictors of Cardiometabolic Health Outcomes” (Altman et al., 2012). This article is particularly interesting to me because the methods and design utilized by the authors are similar to the research that I am currently involved in. I am also particularly interested in behavioral interventions for the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. What is currently understood about the relationship between sleep and BMI suggests that these phenomena may have several contributing metabolic factors. During undisturbed, slow-wave sleep, energy is conserved in slower heart rate, digestion, and muscle activity and may be redirected to immune function and hormone synthesis and dispersal during slow-wave sleep (Jung, Melanson, Frydendall, Perreault, Eckel, & Wright, 2010). Thus an appropriate level of quality sleep for humans is important for overall energy homeostasis.

 Many benefits are emerging of sleep on cognition and health, supporting the importance of sleep on waking state functioning. From a cognitive perspective, sleep has been implied in for example improving memory consolidation, supporting future memory encoding and generating sleep-related insights over waking state problems (Talamini, Nieuwenhuis, Takashima, & Jensen, 2008; Van Der Werf et al., 2009; Wagner, Gais, Haider, Verleger, & Born, 2004). From a health perspective, sleep has been linked to improved immune system, metabolism and endocrine functioning and better cardiovascular health (Dinges, Douglas, Hamarman, Zaugg, & Kapoor, 1995; Spiegel, Leproult, & Van Cauter, 1999; Knutson, 2010). The discernible

My science research project question is which light wavelengths from screens have the worst and best effect on your circadian rhythms. Which electronic device screens affect your sleep patterns. Circadian rhythms is the twenty-four hour clock in your brain that monitors your sleep schedule. Our circadian rhythms are affected by the sun. The sun dictates our sleep patterns, however since there are other sources of light they can tell our brains when to sleep or to wake up. If you are looking at a electronic screen, your eyes think that it is the sun and they tell your brain to wake up and not to prepare you for sleep. If you look at a screen right before you go to bed, it will take you a long time to actually go to sleep because you had just

Sleep is an essential part of any person’s health, however few people seem to realize that not receiving enough sleep can double the risk of becoming obese.“The ‘epidemic’ of obesity is paralleled by a ‘silent epidemic’ of reduced sleep duration with short sleep duration linked to the increased risk of obesity both in adults and in children”(Professor Cappuio). Someone who has developed a sleeping disorder such as, sleep apnea, may not have the motivation to diet or exercise, due to daytime sleepiness. Scientists at the University of Chicago conucted a study in 1999, which restricted eleven healthy young adults to four hours of sleep for six nights. The scientist discovered that restricting individuals to this amount of sleep impaired metabolism functions and disrupted hormone levels. It was also found that the subject’s abilities to process glucose in the blood had declined, in some cases to the level of diabities. ” Not only does obesity contribute to sleep problems such as sleep apnea, but sleep problems can also contribute to obesity.”(National Sleep Foundation)

Deprivation of sleep has been linked to a variety of health issues from type II diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular diseases, to mental health issues such as depression (Porkka-Heiskanen, Zitting & Wigren, 2013). The busy lifestyles of Western culture in the 21st century have increasingly deprived individuals of sleep. This could potentially be a contributing reason that there has been an increase of obesity in cultures such as that of the United States. But what makes humans sleep? Why, as a species, do we need to sleep? Beyond that of feeling tired, science has yet to come to a unanimous decision as to the reasons behind the human race needing to sleep. T. Porkka-Heiskanen, K.M. Zitting, and H.K. Wigren reviewed various research studies and compiled a report of some of the various theories as to why humans need sleep and the potential effects of lack of sleep on the human body, both physically and psychologically.

Intricate human bodies are much like carefully crafted machines. Each function has a purpose, and each need has a particular function. And, much like a machine, bodies can replenish their power, repair themselves, and fail and break down. One particular necessity for human bodies is sleep, and if not acquired, many complications can emerge. Sleep deprivation is a common problem all too often overlooked as a mere loss of a night’s rest. Most people do not realize the potential problems sleep deprivation can cause. From undesired grouchiness and uninhibited yawns to constant illness and a failing mental state, sleep deprivation is a condition to never be taken lightly. In fact, it can cause an

(Backgrounder) A lack of sleep has been linked to risky health behaviors, such as lack of physical activity, suicidal thoughts or actions, and substance use/abuse. Sleep deprivation can lead to obesity and type 2 diabetes. (Minges)