Biological rhythms SsCAA&feature=related.

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Biological rhythms Biological rhythms http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=A18OnmSsCAA&feature=related

Transcript of Biological rhythms SsCAA&feature=related.

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Biological rhythmsBiological rhythms

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A18OnmSsCAA&feature=related

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Biological rhythmsBiological rhythmsRegular variations in the biological

activity of living organisms, such as sleep, body temperature, alertness, neurotransmitter levels, etc.

Ultradian rhythms: less than 24 hrs periodicity

Circadian rhythms: 24 hrs periodicityInfradian rhythms: more than 24hrs

periodicitySee page 2 – identify which rhythmsTry experiment on page 3

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Factors which affect Factors which affect biological rhythmsbiological rhythms

Endogenous pacemakers: Biological ‘clocks’ in the brain controlling biological rhythms. Most likely the suprachiasmatic nucleus in the hypothalamus

Exogenous Zeitgebers (Timegivers): External stimuli that help towards regulating biological rhythms to the outside world

Think of some examples.

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Circadian rhythmsCircadian rhythmsExamples:

sleep/waking, body temperature

Circadian rhythms are needed to balancing behaviour and body states to environmental changes

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The The Biological Biological Clock – how Clock – how does it does it work?work?

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The Biological Clock - How does it work?The Biological Clock - How does it work?

Thought mainly to be an endogenous (internal)

mechanism Our internal rhythms are thought

to be generated by protein synthesis within the SCN. Protein is produced for a period of hours until it reaches a level that inhibits further production. Over the next few hours the protein level gradually falls, when it drops to a certain ‘threshold’ level then production of the protein re-starts. This generates an internal (endogenous) biological rhythm – in humans of between 24 ½ and 25 hours. See textbook

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This endogenous rhythm is regulated to keep it in line with our environmental rhythms by an exogenous mechanism below:SCN have a nerve input directly from the retina of the eye, so they are kept informed about the zeitgebers of light and darkness. I

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The Pineal GlandThe Pineal Gland

Important pacemaker in birds and reptiles.

Lies just beneath the bone of the skull & receives info about light.

Many lizards have a ‘third eye’ near the pineal gland, which

protrudes through a small opening in theskull.

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In darkness this information is transmitted to the pineal gland which manufactures melatonin a hormone which stimulates the production of serotonin in the raphe nucleus. This hormone causes reduced levels of arousal and so induces sleep.

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1) Darkness Falls1) Darkness Falls2)Optical Chiasm 2)Optical Chiasm 3) Stimulates SCN3) Stimulates SCN4)Stimulates Pineal Gland4)Stimulates Pineal Gland5) Produces Melatonin5) Produces Melatonin6) Produces Seratonin 6) Produces Seratonin 7) Brain Activity Falls7) Brain Activity Falls8) Sleep8) Sleep

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When Light enters through the eyes it stimulates the SCN to produce an inhibiting factor (probably a protein) This inhibits the production of melatonin by the pineal gland and so maintains arousal levels – keeping you alert and awake!

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Answer questions on page 8-Answer questions on page 8-99

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TestTestExplain how one exogenous zeitgeber

affects the sleep/wake cycleWhat type of rhythm is the sleep/waking

cycle?Explain why the pineal gland is an

important part of the biological clock?Explain why the mechanism for birds/reptiles

and humans/mammals is different. Give an example of an ultradian rhythm

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Siffre studySiffre studyMichel Siffre in 1972 went to live in

a cave for 6 months. When he was awake the lights in the cave were on, when he went to bed the lights were off. His sleep/wake cycle regulated between 25 and 30 hrs (more than 24 hrs). When he reached the 179th day, his days were only 151 since he started living underground

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Morgan (1995) Morgan (1995)

Bred mutant hamsters so they had circadian rhythms of 20 instead of 24 hours. He transplanted their SCN into normal hamsters.

The normal hamsters displayed the ‘mutant’ rhythm.

What does this provide evidence of?

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Miles et al (1977)Miles et al (1977)

Miles et al’s (1977) study of a blind man. The man blind from birth had a circadian rhythm of 24.9 hours. He had to use stimulants and sedatives to adjust his sleep-waking cycle to the standard 24 hours. This shows that light is the main exogenous factor, as it reduces the natural 25 hour rhythm to 24 hours.

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Evidence - The Role of MelatoninEvidence - The Role of Melatonin

Schochat et al’s “Sleep gate” study (1997) found a close relationship between sleep propensity and melatonin. Six participants spent 29 hours in a sleep laboratory where for 7 minutes in every 20 they had to try to sleep. The highest sleep propensity, the “sleep gate” was found to occur in late evening and the highest levels of melatonin preceded this by 100-120 minutes. But this study only shows a correlation!

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Infradian rhythmsInfradian rhythmsOccurring to a period

more than 24 hrs, such as the human menstrual cycle

Some of them may take place on a yearly basis and they are known as circannual rhythms, such as the migration of birds, and hibernation in squirrels bears, and hedgehogs

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The The Menstrual Menstrual Cycle -an Cycle -an example of example of an an Infradian Infradian Rhythm, is Rhythm, is controlled controlled by by hormones hormones oestrogen oestrogen and and progesteroprogesteronene

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Menstruation is an endogenous rhythm but similar to the sleep wake cycle research has shown that it can be affected by many exogenous cues. – RESEARCH :-

A woman who spent 3 months in a cave developed a shortening of her menstrual cycle which took some time to revert back to normal once she emerged (Reinberg, 1967)

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Infradian rythmsInfradian rythmsMenstruation in the

absence of Zeitgebers: It has been observed that menstruation starts mainly in winter (for the first time), and that because the pineal gland is affected by the melatonin’s secretion and the reproduction system in general (conceptions in lighter months) (Reinberg, 1967)

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Russell et al 1980 found that pheromones – biochemical substances that act like hormones but are released into the air can have the effect of synchronising a group of women’s cycles upon repeated exposure to one another.McClintock (1971) synchronised cycles through pheromones of other women & synchronised cycles through pheromones of men

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Infradian rhythmsInfradian rhythmsSeasonal affective disorder (SAD):

Seasonal changes in behaviour can also be found in human beings. Individuals feel depressed during winter, and elated during summer. One suggestion is that absence of light increases melatonin, and what is suggested is light therapy (Rosenzweig et al., 1999). As an example, depression is mostly seen in northern than southern countries instead

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Ultradian rhythmsUltradian rhythmsShorter than 24 hrs,

such as smoking, eating and drinking, renal excretion (discharging waste through kidneys), sleep (different stages studied through EEG-Electro-Encephalography), etc. (Loomis et al., 1937)

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Ultradian rhythms Ultradian rhythms (Recording Sleep) (Recording Sleep)

EEG (Electro-EncephaloGraphy): It measures and records the electrical activity in a person’s brain

EOG (ElectrOculoGram) it records eye movements during sleep

EMG (ElectroMyoGram) it records muscle activity during sleep

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TestTestOutline what is meant by an

endogenous pacemakerWhy is the hormone melatonin

important?Briefly describe a study about a ‘free-

running’ biological rhythm and what was found.

Describe the findings of Russell et al’s study into mentrual cycles.

Explain how an exogenous zeitgeber influences the mentrual cycle.

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Luce and Segal Artic Circle study (1966) People who live within the Artic circle sleep for 7 hours per night despite the fact that during the summer the sun never sets. This shows that light is not the only zeitgeber, nor is the biological clock only influenced by light. Other exogenous factors such as social customs and psychological factors

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Kleitman (1963): Student partcipants went to live to an underground bunker, with no cues of light or dark. They had to choose their own sleep/wake times. Their circadian rhythms were extended between 25 to 27 hrs

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EvaluationsEvaluations

Individual differences: Biological rhythms do not operate the same in all people, or in subjects of different parts of the world

Number of participants: Because most of the research was carried out with single participants, the findings are generalised with great care

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Check Key termsCheck Key terms

Description Term

Rhythm over course of 24 hrs

Rhythm more than a day

Rhythm less than a day

Internal factors affecting rhythms

External factors affecting rhythms

Exogenous Zeitgebers

Endogenous pacemakers

UltradianInfradianCircadian

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TestTestWhat three things are measured in

studies of sleep cyclesWhat did Luce and Segal’s research

suggest about Zeitgebers?Suggest some possible

methodological criticisms of research into biological rhythms

How do we know that free-running sleep cycles are different the normal 24 hrs?

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Disrupting biological Disrupting biological rhythms rhythms

Jet lagTravelling to different parts of the world for

some days after the journey the sleep/wake cycle is disrupted (body temperature fails/body arousal may increase or decrease)

Shift workEmployees required to a shift work, normally

go to sleep when others are awake. When biological rhythm is disrupted (endogenous pacemakers/exogenous zeitgebers), sleep/wake cycle is disrupted too

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ConsequencesConsequencesStevens (2006) Artificial lighting may

cause disruption to biological rhythms which was not accounted for in some studies e.g Siffre.

Decreased Melatonin levels is associated with cancer. This may explain why breast cancer is more common in western countries where exposure to artifical lighting is greater. Coren (1996) argues that because of all those changes in our lives we end up sleeping 11/2 less than in a century ago

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ConsequencesConsequencesThere are a range of consequences

associated with a lack of sleep including

Poor decision making (see incidents on page 18)

Same affect on driving as alcohol (DeWaard and Brookhuis 1991)

Female flight attendants performed poorly on attention tasks compared to grounded colleagues (Cho et al, 2000)

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Evaluation of research on Evaluation of research on disrupting biological rhythmsdisrupting biological rhythmsResearch findingsDisrupting our biological rhythms has

cognitive and emotional effects, as well as drastic consequences

Methodological issuesStudies have great ecological validity,

however personality and individual differences are not controlled in those studies. Most are correlations e.g between shift work and road accidents ??

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Write a shocking news Write a shocking news article !article !Write the article to inform the

public about the dangers of shift work and jet lag to our health.

You may wish to go to the library and investigate accidents which have occurred during the night when workers are on night shift!

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RecapRecapComplete gap fill page 19TestExplain the affect of artificial light on

biological rhythms.Explain the affect of lack of sleep on

driving ability.Suggest a study which supports the idea

that shift work results in poor performance.

What affect does SAD have on melatonin levels?