Every college student experiences it: that moment of deep regret when they realize that they took “Thirsty Thursday” a bit to the extreme and Friday comes along and they feel as though it is impossible to wake up for that early morning class. Not to worry though because there is a life-saving nectar invented specifically for this circumstance -- or so most college students think at least -- and this nectar is none other than coffee. This notorious cycle is repeated by most college students most weeks and few actually consider how this cycle is actually affecting not just their current state but also their entire physiology as well. One physiological cycle that is greatly being affected that most students do not even know about is the circadian rhythm. Circadian rhythms are a nearly twenty four hour cycle that controls the physiological, behavioral, and mental qualities. These qualities range from locomotors activity, which means it can affect coordination and muscle strength throughout the day. Also, the release of hormones is circadian driven, for example, melatonin, which when released causes the feeling of sleepiness. Even hunger is controlled by the body’s rhythmic clock. The key to identifying how the average college students’ circadian rhythm is affected is by observing their sleep pattern. As mentioned, circadian rhythms affect the release of melatonin, known as the sleepy hormone because this hormone’s release induces sleep. By having cues that advance or delay the circadian clock then directly corresponds and affects the physiological cycles of the circadian rhythm and thereby affects sleep. Other than drug induced cues, there are numerous other factors that affect the circadian rhythm as well. The primary and most influ...
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...However, in the absence of the environmental cues the circadian rhythm will rely on the shell of the SCN to maintain a rhythm acting as a backup clock. The reason for the SCN relying on the core as a primary pacemaker is because it is evolutionarily the better means of survival because it attempts to adapt optimally to its environment rather than expecting a consist environment throughout its life. Primarily the stimulus that would cause the ventrolateral region to project information to the dorsomedial region is because of light cues. However, through looking at the neurotransmitters involved in these regions of the SCN it shows significant reliance on GABA, which is the neurotransmitter related to alcohol, intertwined with the master clock of the circadian rhythm. This exemplifies the connection of alcohol being a prevalent cue for synchronizing circadian rhythms.
Austin states that most students manage to “get less sleep during weekdays and more sleep on weekends to pay back the sleep debt” (36). But this sleep pattern is not what the body is used to during the week and actually affects the student more than he or she thinks. The pattern of sleep the student chooses to have on the weekends makes it difficult to rise each morning for early classes, and it increases his or her sleepiness throughout the week (Austin 36). While each student thinks sleeping more on the weekends benefits them, it actually hurts them because it makes their sleep patterns irregular. When this happens it makes the week harder to deal with because everything is out of
The body’s internal clock, commonly known as circadian rhythm, does not sync with the DST’s clock. This disconnect between the body’s clock and the DST’s clock can engender feelings of “restlessness, sleep disruption, and shorter sleep duration” (O’Connor).
In order to discuss Melatonin as a drug and its effects on behavior we need to define Melatonin and what role it plays in relation to brain and behavior. Melatonin is a hormone that is secreted into the bloodstream by the pineal gland. The pineal gland is a small, pea sized structure near the center of the brain. Signals from the eyes regulate the secretion of Melatonin. A person's internal clock, will fluctuate between a 23-25 hour a day cycle. Therefore, our Melatonin levels decrease and increase with the rising and setting of the sun, which aid to putting an individual on a 24 hour awake/sleep cycle.(1)
The notion of circadian rhythms was first documented in the eighteenth century when it was determined based on observation that the closing and opening of heliotrope plant leaves occurred independently of sunlight, which was recorded by the French astronomer de Mairan. It is clearly evident now that almost all surfaces of physiology exhibit rhythmic oscillations from the simplest of bacteria to us human beings (10). As a biological clock, circadian rhythms develop to accomplish a steady entrainment to environmental cycles such as light. Additionally, circadian rhythms also serve two main functions, which is to measure the duration of time and to track the time of the day. These two functions are intertwined with one another being that both
Although clock expression has been important to understand rhythm, the initial information from retinohypothalamic tract to core or ventro-lateral region of the SCN has been a prime focus of the recent studies. It is widely known that information from ventrolateral region of SCN communicates with other regions of the SCN. Buhr and Yoo (2010), show ventrolateral and dorsomedial neuronal connection exists and this connection has a role in circadian rythm. Their data shows that tetrodoxin can make SCN temperature incompensated due to inhibition of signal from core to shell regions. Similarly, vasoactive intestinal peptide and peptide histidine iso-leucine are expressed in SCN when light information travel from retinohypothalamic tract.
Boudreau, Philippe, Guy A. Dumont, and Diane B. Boivin. “Circadian Adaption To Night Shift Work Influences Sleep, Performance, Mood And The Autonomic Modulation Of The Heart.” Plos ONE 8.7 (2013): 1-14. Academic Search Premier. Web. 19 Feb. 2014.
When most people think of sleep, they think of it as a relaxed but yet not a very important part of our daily lives. What most people don’t understand is although we are not up and moving around and getting tasks completed, our brains are still very active. Without sleep our bodies do not function correctly on a daily basis, and our mental state is at risk.
We live our entire life in two states, sleep and awake1. These two states are characterized by two distinct behaviors. For instance, the brain demonstrates a well-defined activity during non-REM sleep (nREM) that is different when we are awake. In the study of sleep by Huber et. al., the authors stated that sleep is in fact a global state2. It is unclear whether this statement means that sleep is a state of global behavioural inactivity or the state of the global nervous system. The notion that sleep is a global state of the nervous system served as basis for sleep researchers to search for a sleep switch. The discovery of the sleep switch, in return, provided evidence and enhanced the notion that sleep is a global state of the nervous system. The switch hypothesis developed from the fact that sleep can be initiated without fatigue and it is reversible1. It was hypothesized that there is something in the brain that has the ability to control the whole brain and initiate sleep. Studies have found a good candidate that demonstrated this ability3. They found a group of neurons in the Ventrolateral Preoptic (VLPO) nucleus. It was a good candidate because it was active during sleep, has neuronal output that can influence the wakefulness pathway, and lesion in the area followed reduce sleep3. The idea that there is something that can control the whole brain and result sleep state supports the idea that sleep is a global state of the nervous system.
Of the many processes of the body that change over a twenty-four-hour period, the overall physiology, biochemical reactions, and behavioral changes, can be partially explained by the circadian rhythm (Holtzberg). The circadian rhythm is governed by a series of clock genes that operate under molecular feedback loops. Overall, this entire process is maintained by an endogenous clock that is located in a small structure of the brain known as the suprachiasmatic nucleus (Trujillo). Although endogenous, the components of this process are able to detect environmental cues (zeitgebers), which are typically photic or non-photic (Ehlen).
Have you ever wondered why some people are morning people and some people are night people? Whether your status is of a morning person, who is also known as a Lark or a night person also known as an Owl; these two types are called a person’s chronotype. A chronotype is an individual’s biological clock that controls their body’s rhythms.(https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24292-first-physical-evidence-of-why-youre-an-owl-or-a-lark/). People that are considered Larks usually wake up early in the morning and are more alert during that time and retire to bed at a decent hour. Owls on the other hand, are more awake and alert during the nighttime and retire to bed very late at night. A person’s biological clock affects more than just the time you are awake, alert and the time you go to bed. Your biological clock also affects your decision making and behaviors.
While points, claims, and statistics may be found within all of the sources used for the research, the sheer amount of referenced studies and works within the “Sleep-Wake” paper lends weight to it’s usefulness as a reliable source. One of the otherfactor of sleep and its affect within the college community. Three sources varying in criteria and usefulness were found that related to this subject and were studied. sources, “College Students try to Cheat Sleep Needs”, a college newspaper, offers basic facts and elementary assumptions such that could be found within any biology textbook or encyclopedia. These references are to such things as sleep cycles and sub stages and the general consequences of an out of balance sleep cycle. The study from the Biological Rhythm Research writers, however, hints at previous studies and findings that “several factors, such as social and academic demands, part-time jobs, [...] affect the sleep-wake cycle of college students.” but then only states the findings of a particular study, and does so in...
We experience two phases of sleep which repeat themselves every ninety to one hundred and ten minutes, achieving approximately five complete cycles per night. The phases are non- rapi...
The transition from life in high school can be problematic for the majority of students. Most of their days in high school were on a very structured schedule, but moving on to college where you are relying completely on your responsibility to prioritize can be extremely difficult for freshmen. Most college students, at one time or another, find it difficult to juggle their schoolwork, social life, extracurricular activities, and other responsibilities. They become overwhelmed with the load of work brought onto them and it becomes clear that “sleep is not a priority to many people” (Bosworth) students just believe that they can merely go through the week getting less and less sleep and just catch up on their z’s during the weekend. Another good reason why students do not get enough sleep is because they simply do not make time for it. Some studying, athletics, jobs, relationships may take up most of a student’s time and cause them to have stressful sleep (Johnson). Yet, the reasons for student to be sleep deprived widely differ. Approximately 25% of students report studying as the caus...
The alarm goes off at six am and the typical high school student is barely able to open their eyes. It is time to get up and prepare for a full day at school, about eight hours. Most teenagers, according to the National Sleep Foundation, will only get about six hours of sleep since they tend to stay up until midnight (“Should schools start later in the day?”). After getting ready, many students look forward to a nap in their first hour class despite the information they will miss. Teenagers seem to always have had trouble getting up in the morning, even earning the title of lazy from their parents. However, recent research on adolescent sleep patterns has produced a biological explanation for this tendency. This raises a serious question: why are high schools starting early in the morning when teenagers are biologically programmed to sleep in? For most cases, school start time has not been conformed to fit student physiological needs simply because of transportation issues.
The four stages of sleep are REM (rapid eye movement sleep), NREM1 (non-rem), NREM2, and NREM3. During the REM stage “your heart rate rises, your breathing becomes rapid and irregular, and every half-minute or so your eyes dart around in momentary burst of activity behind closed lids” (Myers, 2014, p. 96).