Consequences of Disrupting Biological Rhythms (A2 Psychology Sleep)

This investigation examines is it possible for light pulses to alter the motor skills, and cardiac movements of biological life forms. Is it possible to change how biological lifeforms functions if we were to shine a light on them every hour at night? Knowing how most animals work, and from that of human experience I can say that light is what makes us stay awake; therefore if we have a light shined on us every hour would we lose sleep? These are the type of questions I will be answering throughout my extended essay. I will talk about how our sleep is affected by light, and monitor this so I can then record the data. I will also be discussing why we sleep. Which you may be wondering how this ties into light, however light does damage our skin

14. Evolutionary theories often emphasize that humans have adapted to their physical environment. One such theory hypothesizes that people should spontaneously follow a 24-hour cycle of sleeping and waking—even if they are not exposed to the usual pattern of sunlight. To test this notion, eight paid volunteers were placed (individually) in a room in which there was no light from the outside and no clocks or other indications of time. They could turn the lights on and off as they wished. After a month in the room, each individual tended to develop a steady cycle. Their cycles at the end of the study were as follows: 25, 27, 25, 23,24, 25, 26, and 25.

Time zones have a big effect on travelling to long haul destinations as people can get a jet lag which can ruin their holiday experience as they have to rest to get rid of it before they get active into more activities that they want to do whilst on holiday. The enjoyment of

Circadian rhythms occur every 24 hours; an example of a circadian rhythm is the sleep-waking cycle. We are diurnal animals who are active during the daytime and asleep at night, other animals are nocturnal they are active at night but asleep during the day. The circadian rhythm depends on the interaction of physiological and psychological processes to be tuned into the sleep-waking cycle so energy is provided when needed. As diurnal humans we have a fairly stable sleep pattern with the time we go to sleep and the time we wake up, this consistency suggests an internal mechanism controls sleep, endogenous pacemaker. However, this can be overridden by external factors, exogenous zeitgebers.

Circadian rhythm is another sleep disorder that has to do with our body functions. In this case, our body clocks are off, due an internal change or external factors like a change in time zones or regions where a midnight sun occurs during a 24-hour period. Bright lights in a room have a similar effect on sleep.

Circadian rhythm disorder is related with people's biological clock. It means you people find difficulty falling asleep or often keep awake at the sleep time. Actually, you have some problems about sleep disorder.

How often do you hear people complain about being tired all the time? Sleep deficiency has been investigated for years, but there has been no single method to explain why people nod their heads asleep in crucial times focus: during an important class lecture or even at the wheel. However, it is clear that without a good night’s rest, sleep-deprived individuals can find it difficult to pay attention, even if they want to stay awake. Thus, it becomes important to examine the underlying mechanisms that explain the negative effects of sleep loss on attention and cognitive performance. Sleep effects can be measured by alertness, which describes the overall state of the cognitive system and can be attributed to two primary components: a circadian system and a sleep homeostasis system (Åkerstedt & Folkard, 1995). The circadian system is composed of an oscillating 24-hour cycle that fluctuates in alertness throughout one day, while the homeostasis system is a gradual decline of alertness as wake time increases throughout the day, only recovering after sleep (Achermann, 2004). Attention is facilitated by alertness and is the behavioral and cognitive process of focusing on one piece of information at a time. Although it is a broad phenomenon, it can be divided into two components: vigilant attention and selective attention. Vigilant attention is a person’s ability to keep concentrating on one task, while selective attention is a person’s ability to focus distinctly on one stimuli to

An abundance of research has been generated on sleep and why it occurs, with results suggesting that dreaming may partially explain the phenomenon. Though results have failed to discover the primary function of sleep, they have unveiled dreaming as a secondary function, which despite not being fundamental for survival possesses a great deal of utility nonetheless. While the primary function of dreaming, much like the primary function of sleep, remains ambiguous; a number of theories and empirical studies have proposed secondary functions relevant to waking life. The threat simulation theory, for example, postulates that dreaming serves an evolutionary function, thought to have heightened survival and reproductive success in the Pleistocene era. The theory purports that dreaming allows for an endogenous simulation of potential threats, which rehearses the cognitive mechanisms necessary for threat perception and avoidance in reality (Valli, Revonsuo, Pälkäs, Ismail, Ali, & Punamäki, 2005; Arnulf, Grosliere, Le Corve, Golmard, Lascols & Duguet, 2014). Additionally, the continuity theory posits that dreams mirror waking life experiences, thus serving a predictive function. In accordance to this theory, dream imagery can be used to predict wellbeing, and diagnose depression and anxiety (Miller, DeCicco, Fox, & McCourt, 2015; DeCicco, Lyons, Pannier, Wright, & Clarke, 2010; Michels, Schilling, Rausch, Eifler, Zink, Meyer-Lindenberg, & Schredl, 2014). Lastly, dreams have a

It would be appreciated if you could arrange an appointment with Sam, 24-year-old PhD student who reports sleep onset insomnia, sleep fragmentation and poor quality sleep. Sam has undergone a couple of sleep studies that have not identified any specific disorder aside from a raised arousal index that that led to another sleep study and commencing him in Lyrica and melatonin. Sam has found these medications somewhat beneficial, but continues to report some sleep disruption and daytime fatigue. Your assessment would be appreciated.

Sleep duration and quality participate in normal metabolism, function of immune system, mood, and cognitive functioning [1]. Short duration of sleep and circadian misalignment are hypothesized to contribute to many problems of health including over weight, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, cardiac disease, mood disorders, cognitive dysfunction, and

A misconception that people have regarding delayed sleep phase disorder is that as long as the human body retains six to eight hours of sleep per day, then they should be fully functional no matter when they fall asleep. However, after researching delayed sleep phase disorder, it was clear to see that this disorder affects a person’s social life more than their sleeping schedule. While they are asleep during the day, or during other hours that most of the general population actively socializes, the individuals with the disorder are lacking social involvement and instead trying to retain the recommended hours of sleep. This disorder can lead to fatigue, excessive sleepiness during the day, and disconnection from family and social life 3. Although the lack of social involvement is seen this disorder further affects the body internally such as manipulating the genes that work with the circadian rhythm this affecting the body’s processes, influence gene expression, make the immune system significantly weaker, and the glutamatergic process 1,2. Resetting the circadian clock is not an easy task, but there are possible techniques and treatments for patients with this disorder. The difficulty to reset the circadian clock is explained in a study 2 of people who suffer from neurological

In the article “Shedding light on the day-night cycle”, many new researchers found different rhymes encoded to their daily life. Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine discovered different ways to test groups of neurons based on keeping time that will make them be on the same clock. As we know, life on earth is followed by the rising and setting of the sun. Using based knowledge, there are many night owls and morning risers. Stated in the article, “it is important to understand how fundamental timing information is translated into actual neuronal signals in the brain that are controlled by daily rhythms, including rhythmic behavior” (Paul Taghert). Daily cycles are known as circadian clocks. The circadian clock is based on evolution and uses a small amount of proteins which goes up and down by controlling your manner once a day. In the article, scientist do a study based on fruit flies. Liang talks about performing brain scans on live fruit flies every ten minutes for 24 hours. Every fly brain is behaviorally active 150 times in the morning and in the evening. Scientists are improving new tools to help one to identify signals and understand the control timing in the brain in other species.

Circadian rhythm refers to the twenty-four-hour cycle that results in physical, mental and behavioral changes in living things. Animals and plants respond differently to the lightness and darkness depending on the circadian rhythm or the internal biological clock. The body clock works responsibly in making sure that the pattern of mental alertness of a person is enhanced. A DNA molecule is transmitted to pass the message for opening up of the RNA, and the mRNA is transformed into a protein which takes some time for the DNA to be turned into a molecule. The time of conversion is determined and kept by the body’s biological clock (Alice, 2012). If the clock fails to work the level of alertness can be affected, and this can make a person to cause traffic accidents or even cause injuries at the place of work. Also, some people can suffer from chronic diseases if the biological clock is altered with.

The circadian rhythm, can be described as a normal attentiveness and or sleepiness experienced through a 24-hour day. The cycle low points, shows a decrease in attentiveness. And the high points state the area where difficult sleep occurs. Shifting the circadian rhythm by one to two hours or backward per day

Yes, most definitely! To prove it, all you need to do is look at people like Brian Kelly. Brian Kelly used to work on Wall Street and is one of those incredibly relaxed people who never seems to experience any jet lag or the inevitable stress of an air travel. This has its reason: One of Kelly's trips with stops in Ghana, Rwanda and South Africa cost him just 5.60 dollars!