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Two Biological System Related To Sleep Research

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The second biological system related to sleep is the circadian alerting system, or the “sleep clock.” It regulates the timing of wakefulness and sleepiness during our day. You may know this as your biological day/night rhythm. It is controlled by the relationship between structures in the brain and light, and our energy use during the day. The structure that is responsible for this called the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) in the hypothalamus. The circadian alerting system sends “alerting signals” during the day and turns those signals down at night. In this way, it runs on a 24-hour cycle.

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