PS101 Lecture Notes - Slow-Wave Sleep, Insomnia, Daylight Saving Time
Document Summary
We spend a third of our life sleeping; doing something we don"t know why we do it. Biological rhythms: a periodic, more or less regular fluctuation in a biological system. Biological rhythms influence effectiveness of medication, alertness, job performance ex. more productive in the morning then you are at night (sometimes it has to do with caffeine, but on its own, it affects a variety of things) Commonly entertained to external time cues (ex. rising/setting of the sun) Endogenous rhythm averages around 24. 3 hours (alarm clock or mother yelling at you to wake up) Removed cues about 10% of people have clocks running slower and 10% running faster. Increase in accidents at transition of daylight savings time 10-20% more accidents. Controlled by biological clock in suprachiasmatic nucleus (snc)- regulates levels of melatonin secreted by pineal gland ex. if you fly to austrailia you should have melatonin to adapt better to the time difference and jet lag.
