Reflection of What I've Learned

A rhythm is something that is regularly repeated. All living organisms experience rhythmic changes which tend to coincide with seasonal or daily environmental changes. Most organisms have an internal biological clock called endogenous pacemakers, which are influences by external environmental factors called exogenous zeitgebers, these control periodic changes. The sleep wake cycle is a circadian rhythm that repeats itself every 24 hours. However these can become desynchronised, resulting in a disruption of your biological rhythm. It can be disrupted by many factors, including Jet lag and shift work.

College students like myself often put off sleep for other activities like studying, doing homework or even just staying up all night with a friend. Our body follows the twenty-four hour cycle of each day and night through a biological clock called the Circadian rhythm. On the weekdays, staying up all night and skipping meals makes it difficult to focus in class. After lunchtime, I become sleepy and have difficulty focusing on my other classes. In the afternoon, this affects my body because it does not give me energy, but instead it makes me crash earlier in the day.

Ever since I have begun life at college, I have found going to bed on a decent time each night a very troublesome task. I wake up feeling very tired the next morning, and I always seem in a rush to get my day started. Because of staying up so late and then not waking up on time, I am sometimes late to work or class. In addition, I find myself very tired and stressed throughout the day. This in effect makes me often irritable toward other people. I am tired of living my life in a constant flurry every morning. Thus, the behavioral change that I would like to alter is my sleeping schedule. Being tired after a night of sleep just leads to anxiety and causes even

I discovered many strengths and weaknesses through this semester, especially in this latter half. For me, my most instrumental papers were the collaborative essay, my essay on circumcision, and the research essay. These really highlighted some key ideas for me on things I needed to work on or had down already.

Within Sports Coaching Literature, it has been established that reflection is a generic term for intellectual and effective activities, in which individuals examine their experiences, in order to develop new understanding and intrapersonal appreciation (Knowles, et al., 2006). Research in this field has advocated reflective practice as an approach to professional development which positively impacts coaching effectiveness (Cropley, et al., 2012). This reflective report shall discuss, analyse and evaluate my own personal development throughout my first semester spent studying at UCFB, in order to develop new understanding and intrapersonal appreciation, and help explore my decisions and experiences, increasing understanding of

In order to be a successful student at USMAPS and beyond, a cadet candidate must employ a proper sleep schedule. While the mechanisms of sleep are only partially clear and primarily left to scientific speculation, everyone can agree that the vitality of sleep and circadian rhythms is indisputable. That said, while I go through the academic year, I have developed a plan to maintain my sleep habits and ensure that proper sleep will benefit me throughout my academic endeavors.

Regimented sleep schedule: By sticking with a regimented or strict sleep schedule, your circadian rhythm should adapt. Those with variable sleep schedules may have a circadian rhythm that isn’t aligned with their sleep schedule, thus resulting in all types of physiological chaos. Decreasing this physiological chaos with a good sleep schedule may also reduce the

making Practice-Based Learning work Reflection on PRACTICE A resource commissioned by the Making Practice Based Learning Work project, an educational development project funded through FDTL Phase 4 Project Number 174/02 and produced by staff from the University of Ulster. www.practicebasedlearning.org Author Patricia McClure School of Health Sciences, University of Ulster www.practicebasedlearning.org contents Reflection on Practice 02

I over the past week I slept approximately fifty-nine hours, three more than the recommended weekly amount, assuming eight hours a night. When it comes to sleep, my biggest problem is a lack of a sleep schedule. In a given night I could have slept anywhere from five to ten hours. The only constant aspect of my sleep schedule is my nap schedule, which I did a poor job of keeping to this particular week. Most weeks, I take a half-hour to an hour nap Monday through Friday, either before or after lunch, and often a much longer one Saturday. My weekday naps serve the purpose of reenergizing me for class after a morning of homework. On the other hand, my Saturday nap serves as a substitute for any additional hours of sleep I may have loss throughout the week and to prepare me for the week that is ahead. My general commitment to sleeping around midday has allowed me to stay up until past midnight most every night to socialize or do homework and still wake up for my morning

Circadian rhythm is a daily cycle of activity that is performed. For example, going to the gym, school, and then work, is a daily cycle, whereas sitting on the couch all day and occasionally driving to the store and back is not. It is doing something with your body, but not over doing it. Stress reduction techniques such as yoga and meditation helps to release energy. And treating insomnia in its early stages helps prevent psychiatric disorders such as depression. The longer you wait to try to cure insomnia the longer and harder it is going to be.

I have fallen asleep every night for the last 22 years, but yet I never analyzed my own sleep pattern. Never truly aware of what time I fell asleep, whether I dreamt every night, or the quality of my sleep. All I knew was that the older I got, the more lethargic I got, and the more caffeine I consumed. Now given the opportunity to monitor my sleep for five nights with the use of a sleep diary I have better knowledge of my sleep patterns. Basing my sleep patterns on concepts learned in class, I was able to understand my sleep, and apply different issues I experienced each night to the resolutions I learned. Hopefully, after my sleep diary I will know how to improve my quality of sleep on a regular basis based on concepts learned in class.

"…reflection in a mirror is an exact replica of what is in front of it. Reflection in professional practice… gives back not what it is, but what might be, an improvement on the original…" Biggs (1999).

Aside from noticing night and day and clocks our body has its own system to tell us when to sleep and when to wake, our circadian rhythm. The human body naturally runs on a twenty five hour clock, so living on a twenty four hour schedule is often hard on the body because it loses an hour each day. On top of this natural loss most people do not get the right amount of sleep each night which can cause a whole host of problems. This is part of

The term ‘Shift work’ is usually referred to uniformly divided allocations of the day in which individuals participate alternatively to provide twenty four hour coverage. A shift in sleep schedule conflicts with the body’s natural clock also known as the circadian rhythm into interpreting the time as ‘inappropriate’ and disrupts the homeostatic regulation cycle resulting in poor health outcomes. Fortunately, it is deemed possible to counter unfavourable effects of alternating insomnia and sleepiness through certain practices.

breathe or function at all and would be an empty shell for one cannot operate or function without it.