Circadian rhythms Flashcards
What are biological rhythms
distinct patterns of changes in body activity that conform to cyclical time periods
influences by internal body clocks (endogenous pacemakers) and external changes to the environment (exogenous zeitgebers)
What are circadian rhythms
biological rhythms that last for around 24 hours and regulate a variety of body processes such as sleep/wake cycle or changed in core body temp
How does the sleep wake cycle work
exposure to light (exogenous zeitgeber) will influence the sleep-wake cycle
but also internal/endogenous pacemaker suprachiasmatic nuclei detects the level of light present and uses this info to coordinate the activity of the entire circadian system
What is meant by desynchronisation
shift work can lead to the desynchronisation of circadian rhythms and lead to adverse cognitive and physiological effects
Describe research into Circadian rhythms
Siffre spent several extended period underground to study effects of his own bio rhythms
deprived of natural light and sound
found that his ‘free-running’ bio rhythms settled down to one that was just beyond the usual (25 hours) however he continued to fall asleep and wake up on a regular schedule
What is a strength of Circadian rhythms
has been used to improve medical treatments
circadian rhythms coordinate a number of body processes such as heart rate/digestion which led to the field of chronotherapeutics (how medical treatment can be administered in a way that it corresponds with a persons bio rhythms )
(e.g aspirin for heart attacks is most effective taken at night as heart attacks more likely to occur early in the morning so timing of taking the medication matters)
shows circadian rhythms help to increase the effectiveness of drug treatments
What is a limitation of circadian rhythms
individual differences
generalisations difficult to make
majority of supporting research is based on small samples of Pp or even just one person (Siffre) so can be classified as idiographic
argued that sleep/wake cycles vary widely from person to person so it is difficult to use the research data to discuss anything more than averages which may be meaningless
