5.1 consciousness: the nature & functions of sleeping Flashcards
sleeping
lowest conscious level
we spend over a third of out lives sleeping
biological rhythms
as biological organisms people age and that means their lives change across time, our roles and activities won’t necessarily change dramatically throughout our life spans
life isn’t all change, other species age but also complete repetitive cycles and their biological processes across time
biological rhythms are the repetitive cycles
circannual rhythms
year long cycles of biological change
-like bears/beed cycles of activity during warm months and hibernation during winter
infradian rhythms
biological rhythms that cycle over a period longer than a day
(like female menstrual cycles)
ultradian rhythms
biological rhythms that cycle over a period shorter than a day
(like cyclical changes in our hormone levels throughout the day)
circadian rhythms
biological rhythms that cycle over a 24 hour period
like our sleeping/waking cycle
sunlight and sleep/wake cycle
exposure to sunlight plays a role in our cycles
suprachiasmatic nucleus
part of the brain which is responsible for coordinating our circadian rhythms with exposure to sunlight
SCN of the hypothalamus
receives info about lighting levels from the retinas of our eyes and sends that info to the pineal gland
pineal gland
releases hormone called melatonin
melatonin
a hormone excreted by the pineal gland that contributes to our level of alertness
more melatonin = less alterness and more sleepiness
entrainment
the synchronization of biological rhythms with external cues, such as light or temperature.
however, external cues do not modify some of our biological rhythms
endogenous rhythms
biological rhythms that do not depend on external cues
when people kept in constant artificial lighting conditions tend to follow a 24-25 hour sleep/ wake cycle
aging alters sleep patterns
younger people tend to be more alert and awake in the evening than older people, who tend to be more alert in the early morning and get drowsy earlier in the evening
across the life span humans also see a gradual decline in the amount of sleep they require
babies gets about 16 hours of sleep a day
where ages 55-90 get around 6 hours a day
what happens while we sleep
we cycle through several shorter alternating rhythms
there is a lot of biological activity going on while we sleep
polysomnography
a group of physiology measures (for biological activites)
measures of breathing rate, body temperatures, sensors for measuring muscle activity and the electroencephalogram- EEG
EEG
provides measures of brain activity at different locations across a persons scalp
EEG recordings provide the main basis for distinguishing between the different stages of biological change that occur while a person sleeps
EEG measures changes in electrical charges that correspond to the firing of neurons in the brain and thus generates a record of alternative positive and negative electrical charges
when printed graphically- these changes in electrical charge look like a jagged wave of peeks and valleys
-frequency
-amplitude
frequency of EEG
the rate of up and down shifts in the EEG waveform
amplitude of EEG
the distance in height b/w the peak and valley of an EEG waveform