PSYC 11762 Lecture Notes - Sleep Spindle, Suprachiasmatic Nucleus, Epigenetic Clock
Document Summary
Biological rhythms and sleep: circadian rhythm: 24-hour biological cycles. Related to sleep (& other body functions. Affects alertness, st memory, cognitive performance: brain path of the biological clock: Light levels retina suprachiasmatic nucleus of hypothalamus pineal gland secretion of melatonin: light/melatonin affect and can reset circadian rhythms. Disrupting the biological clock: jet lag: mismatch between biological clock and the clock on the wall. Try to sleep at the wrong time for your body. Brainwaves: physical measure of consciousness: eeg: used to measure brain electrical activity. Measure passage of signal along the axon: more rapid waves = higher alertness, slower waves = increasing sleep depth. Sleep stages: cycling through sleep: stage 1: brief, transitional (1-7 minutes) Physical twitching: stage 2: sleep spindles (10-25 minutes, stages 3 & 4: deep sleep (30 minutes, stage 5: rem, brain waves, similar to being awake, most dreaming (and most vivid dreams)
