Biological rhythmns infradian and ultradian

Question 1

infradian

AO3 : individual differences in menstrual cycle of women

Answer 1

e.g. individual differnces in the menstrual cycle of women. E.G. range from 23 - 36; not just 28. in teenagers the gap is larger 21-45. Many factors effect this e.g. diet, sleep, excercise, stress.
This may act as confounding variables in synchronisation of MC research, so findings may have occured due to chance. Explains why other studies dont replicate results. Studies may be flawed

Question 2

infradian

ao3: real world application

Answer 2

treatments for SAD have been developed - Light therapy.
Strong light which resets bodies internal clock. Stduies show reduce effects of sad in 80% of people. May be preffered over antidepressants.

However bright light could cause headaches/ eyestrain. Relapse rate is higher than cbt shown by studies - 46%.

Question 3

ultraadian

Describe the sleep cycle

repeats every 90 mins

Answer 3

stage 1&2: easliy to wake: brain waves- alpha waves high frequency, short amplitude.
Stage 3&4: deep sleep/SLOW WAVE SLEEP(SWS); brain waves are delta waves - lower frequency, higher amplitude. Difficult to wake up
5/REM sleep: body is paralysed; brain activity resembles an awake person.Theta waves

Repeats every 90 mins

Question 4

ultradian

ao3: studies on sleep take place in lab

Answer 4

highly controlled - removed extraneous variables e.g. noise/ temperature that effects sleep
High internal validity.

However ppts often attched to monitors/ machinary to track their waves/rhythmns. Mya be invasive/ lead to them sleeping in way that doesnt reflect ordinary sleep cycle/pattern.
Lack of ecological validity.

Question 5

ultradian

AO3: individual differnces in sleep stage; variation between people in ultradian research

Answer 5

research - tucker- found large differnces in duration of each sleep stage particulculary 3 and 4. He sugguests that these differnces are biologically determined. This means it may be worth foucsing on these innate bio differnces during investigations into sleep cycle. Makes it difficult to describe ‘normal sleep’ in a meaningful way.

Question 6

what is a infradian rhythm

e.g. menstrual cycle, sesonal affective disorder

Answer 6

types of biological rhythmns with a duration of over 24 hours; frequency of less than one cycle in 24 hours

Question 7

what is a ultradian rhythm

stages of sleep e.g.

Answer 7

types of biological rhythms with a duration less that 24 hours; frequency of than one cycle in 24 hours.