PSYCH 1000 Chapter Notes - Chapter 4.2: Obstructive Sleep Apnea, Slow-Wave Sleep, Circadian Rhythm
Document Summary
4. 2 what is sleep: common misconception: brain shuts down during sleep. Could not be farther from the truth: many regions of the brain are more active during sleep than during wakefulness, circadian rhythms: biological patterns that occur at regular intervals as a function of time of day. Body temperature, hormone levels and sleep/wake cycles operate according to circadian rhythms. Influenced by cycles of light and dark: information about light detected by the eyes is sent to the suprachiasmatic nucleus in the hypothalamus. Send signals to a tiny structure called pineal gland. Pineal gland secretes melatonin, a hormone that travels through the bloodstream and affects various receptors in the body, including the brain. Sleep is an altered state of consciousness: the difference between being awake and being asleep has as much to do with conscious experience as with biological experience. Conscious experience of the outside world is largely turned off.
