Biological Rhythms: circadian rhythms Flashcards

Question

who did research saying we should not overestimate importance of exogenous zeitgebers on our internal biological clock

Answer 1

Folkard et al (1985)

Answer 2

studied a group of 12 who agreed to live in a cave with no natural light for 3 weeks. they went to bed when the clock said 11:45 and woke when the clock said 7:45. however, over the study the clock was sped so what seemed like a 24 hour day was only 22 hours

Answer 3

-only one participant was able to comfortably adjust to the 22 hour day -this suggests that the existence of a string free-running circadian rhythm cannot be easily overridden by exogenous zeitgebers

Answer 4

-research into circadian rhythms provides and understanding of the adverse consequences that occur when they are disrupted (desynchronisation) -night workers engaged in shift work experience a period of reduced concentration at around 6 am called a circadian trough, this means mistakes and accidents are more likely to happen (Bovin et al 1996). Research also pointed to a relationship between shift work and poor health as shift workers are more than 3x likely to develop heart disease than those with a more typical work pattern (Knutsson 2003) --> shows that research into sleep/wake cycle can have a real-world economic implication in terms of how best to manage worker productivity

Answer 5

-studies investigating effects of shift work tend to use correlational methods. can be difficult to establish if desynchronisation of the sleep/wake cycle can actually cause negative effects as there may be other factors. Soloman 1993 concluded that high divorce rates in shift workers may be due to strain of sleep deprives or other influences such as missing family events --> suggests may not be biological factors creating the adverse consequences associated with shift work

Answer 6

-used to improve medical treatments -circadian rhythms co-ordinate a number of the bodys basic processes such as heart rate, digestion and hormone levels. these rise and fall during the day which has led to the field of chronotherapeutic (how medical treatment can be administered in a way that corresponds to a person's biological rhythms) for example, how aspirin as a treatment for heart attacks is most effective when taken last thing at night. aspirin reduces blood platelet activity and can reduce risk of a heart attack. as heart attacks are most likely to occur in the morning, the time of taking aspirin matters. Bonten et al 2015 research has supported this --> shows that circadian rhythm research can help increase effectiveness of drug treatments

Answer 7

-generalisations can be difficult to make -studies such as ASchoff and Wever, Siffre are based on very small samples of participants. it seems sleep and wake cycles vary widely form person to person. Czeisler et al 1999 found individual difference in sleep/wake cycles varying from 13 to 65 hours. in addition Duffy et al 2001 revealed that some people have natural preferences for going to bed early and rising early (larks) whilst others going to bed late and rising late (owls). Even Siffre, later in 1999 study observed his own sleep/wake cycle had slowed down since he was young --> means it is difficult to use research data to discuss anything more than averages, which may be meaningless

Answer 8

-number of researchers such as Wolfson and Carskadon 1998 recommend that the school day start a couple of hours later to fit in with the typical teenage chronotype (sleep pattern). hormonal shifts in the teenage body mean that getting to sleep becomes more difficult and therefore adolescent students tend to be rather sleepy at the start of the school day. research has shown benefits for academic and behavioural performance when lessons start in the day, including reduced dependence on caffeine -however, shifting the start of the day is disruptive for parents and teachers, and limits the number of extracurricular activates after school, also critics of the proposal suggest that a later school day would not actually reduce sleep deprivation, it would simply mean that teenagers stay up later and would still be exhausted

Biological Rhythms: circadian rhythms Flashcards

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