Circadian rhythm

As long as human beings are pilots, fatigue represents a major threat to the safety of aircraft operations. Circadian rhythms govern the process of activities such as hormone production, cell regeneration and other biological activities on an approximately twenty-four basis. These rhythms are typically endogenously generated and govern sleeping and feeding pattern of all living things including humans, however external cues including temperature and sunlight can affect this process(Wikipediaorg,…

processes that regulate the sleep-wake cycle, the circadian rhythm controls alertness, wakefulness level and it is regulated by the internal biological or circadian clock. Indeed, the circadian clock controls how much melatonin the body makes. Melatonin is a hormone known to trigger sleep. The Melatonin level increases in the mid-to late evening and remains high during the night. Thus, insomnia can be associated with the disruption of the circadian clock. Indeed, environmental factors such as…

Sleep deprivation in shift workers is becoming increasingly more common as the prevalence of shortened sleep has increased from 7.6 percent in 1975 to 9.3 percent in 2006 (Abrams, 2015). Statistics show that 20 percent of the adult population suffers from sleep deprivation and its effects (Abrams, 2015). Along with these statistics the CDC has reported that 40 percent of night shift workers sleep less than 6 hours of sleep each night in comparison to the 28.8 percent of day shift workers who…

people go through life with undiagnosed chronic sleep disorders. The word somnology includes study of human sleep and its irregularities. A step to furthering research would include Chronobiology, or the study of the circadian sleep functions and disorders. Circadian sleep functions or “rhythms”, are mental, physical, and…

receives must be reduced. To begin with, too much homework disturbs the life balance of the child. On the website “New Kids-Center” they say that, “Children who have too much homework will not be able to balance their life, which could impact their circadian rhythm,” ("Negative Effects of Too Much Homework."). This means that it will affect…

Today in America, “40% of adults and 70% of adolescences are sleep deprived” (Collins, 2014). Sleep is extremely important to each individual’s life. In fact, 2/3 of our lives are spent awake, and the remaining 1/3 of our lives is spent sleeping. Sleep can be defined, as the “period of unconsciousness during which the brain remains highly active. It is a complex biological process that helps people process new information, stay healthy, and rejuvenate (Sleep: Condition Information, 2013). As…

In the words of John Steinbeck, ‘It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it.” In other words, we are able to make better decisions when we are well rested. In this manner, just as eating and breathing, the act of sleep represents one of the physiological needs according to Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. As a matter of fact, the stage pyramid proposed by Maslow comprises a motivational theory based on…

Sleep is one of the many biological rhythms that humans experience. In particular, the sleep wake cycle is called the circadian rhythm. This rhythm runs on a roughly twenty-four-hour cycle. Sleep consists of roughly a third of it and is controlled by the hypothalamus within the brain. The typical sleep cycle consists of five different stages and can lead to health consequences if not fully rested. A typical night’s sleep cycle consists of two different types of sleep known as NREM (non-Rapid…

Starting at work before 10 a.m. is not tantamount to torture. According to the lecture slideshow, a rat living in total darkness has shifting waking period. Circadian rhythm is reset through external cues such as sunlight and temperature. This suggests that people tend to wake latter during the winter, but earlier during the summer. Start times should take sunrise into account. According to 10 Things You Should Know about Sleep, bright light helps reduce melatonin levels. Because the sun rises…

The first topic, and one I found most interesting is how people alter their consciousness through drugs and alcohol. This was really interesting to me as I grew up in a home with drug addiction, so learning about what makes drugs so appealing and addicting really opened my eyes. A lot of the information covered in that section was information that I was already familiar with, however I did read some things that did surprise me. For example, marijuana was listed as a hallucinogen which really…