PSYB64H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 11: Suprachiasmatic Nucleus, Lucid Dream, Sleep Spindle
Document Summary
Week 7 july 6 th , 2015. Circadian rhythms: a repeating cycle of about 24 hours: zeitgebers: an external cue for setting biological rhythms. Light is the most important zeitgeber for human beings: free-running circadian rhythm: a rhythm that is not synchronized to environmental time cues (i. e. , the absence of natural light). Totally blind people and sailors on submarines experience free-running circadian rhythms that are longer than 24 hours, often resulting in severe sleep disruptions: entrainment: the resetting of internal biological clocks to the 24-hour cycle of the earth"s rotation. Larks: people who are most alert and productive in the morning. Night owls: people who are most alert and productive at night: nearly everyone acts like a night owl during adolescence due to the dramatic drop in melatonin at the onset of puberty. In other words, it"s easier to travel from east to west.
