Sleep and Rhythms Miss. Ralph

Sleep Log and Project: The Sleep and Dream Reflection (At least 2-3 pages) After you keep your log for a week, you will go back and analyse your findings.  The purpose of this is to participate in a thoughtful reflection of your sleeping habits and your dreams.  You must make clear connections between your personal sleep log and the topics/readings discussed in class.  The “big picture” question is: “In what ways has this project (along with our study of sleep and dreams) provided insight into your sleeping habits and your recent dreams.” Here are some questions you may consider: Why do we sleep? Why do we dream? What are your sleep habits? How do you typically wake up in the morning? What is your sleep space like? How do these factors affect the quantity and quality of your sleep? What are your sleep patterns (time/length of sleep, naps)?  Are you consistent with these patterns?  Do you think your caffeine intake affects your sleep? How do these factors affect the quantity and quality of your sleep? Is there a correlation between the amount of sleep you get and your daily energy level? What about your mood? Ability to concentrate or focus? Ability to think quickly? How does sleep affect your memory? Based on dream analysis theory, how would you explain the content of some of your dreams (feel free to choose two)?   **  Remember to draw upon specific examples from your sleep log and from in-class discussions/videos/readings! If you would like to work in pairs to collect your data so that you can compare it, you are more than welcome too.

What is consciousness? An awareness of ourselves and our environment.

So… Why study consciousness? Our consciousness is always changing for various reasons How and why does conscious vary? Biological rhythms Sleep and dreams Hypnosis Meditation Drugs

The National Sleep IQ Test: During sleep, your brain rests. You cannot learn to function normally with one or two fewer hours of sleep than you need. Boredom makes you feel sleepy, even if you have had enough sleep. Resting in bed with your eyes closed cannot satisfy your body’s need for sleep. Snoring is not harmful as long as it doesn’t disturb others or wake you up. Everyone dreams nightly. The older you get, the fewer hours of sleep you need. Most people don’t know when they are sleepy. Raising the volume of your radio will help you stay awake while driving. Sleep disorders are mainly due to worry or psychological problems. The human body never adjusts to night shift work. Most sleep disorders go away, even without treatment. False - While your body rests, your brain doesn’t. An active brain during sleep prepares us for alertness and peak functioning the next day. True - Most adults need around eight hours of sleep to function at their best. To determine your sleep need, sleep until you wake on your own...without an alarm clock. Feel alert? That’s your sleep need. You can teach yourself to sleep less, but not to need less sleep. False. Sleep loss causes sleepiness. Boredom, like a warm or dark room, merely unmasks it True. Rest is not a substitute for sleep. Sleep is as necessary to health as food and water. When you don’t get the sleep you need, your body builds up a sleep debt. Sooner or later, this debt must be paid... with sleep. False. Snoring may indicate the presence of a life-threatening sleep disorder called sleep apnea. People with sleep apnea snore loudly and wake up repeatedly during the night, gasping for breath. These repeated awakenings lead to severe daytime sleepiness. Many people with sleep apnea are unaware they have this condition. True. Though many people fail to remember their dreams, dreaming does occur for every person, every night. Dreams are most vivid during REM or rapid eye movement sleep. False. Sleep need remains unchanged throughout adulthood. Older people who sleep less at night tend to sleep more during the day. If poor sleep habits, pain or health conditions make sleeping difficult, a physician can help. False. If you’re sleepy enough, you can fall asleep anywhere. It’s also possible to fall asleep for a few seconds and not even realize it. These “microsleeps” can be dangerous if they happen when you’re driving. False. Playing a radio, chewing gum, and opening windows are not great ways to keep sleepy drivers alert because their effects are short-lived. If you’re having trouble staying awake while driving, try to pull over at a safe place and take a short nap or have a caffeinated drink. The best solution is to drive after a good night’s sleep. False. Sleep disorders have a variety of causes. Sleep apnea, for example, is caused by an obstruction of the airway during sleep. Narcolepsy is characterized by severe daytime sleepiness and sudden sleep attacks, and it appears to be genetic. No one knows yet what causes restless legs syndrome, in which creepy, crawly feelings arise in the legs and are relieved, momentarily, by motion. True. All living things (people, animals, even plants) have a cirdacian or about 24-hour rhythm. This affects when we feel sleepy and alert. Whether you work the night shift or not, you are most likely to feel sleepy between midnight and 6:00 am. Therefore, a shift worker’s circadian rhythm never adjusts. False. Sleep disorders don’t disappear without treatment. Treatment may be behavioral (for example, going to sleep and waking at the same time every day), pharmacological, surgical or a combination. Untreated sleep disorders may have serious consequences that worsen your health, quality of life, school and work performance, and relationships. Worse, untreated sleep disorders can lead to accidents and death.

Biological Rhythms: Circadian Rhythms: Variations in consciousness are shaped by biological rhythms Controlled by “biological clocks” (internal chemical units that control regular cycles in the body) Circadian Rhythms: Biological rhythms lasting a day (24 hours). One example of this is the sleep wake cycle. Our body clock is regulated by things such as melatonin and body temperature.

The circadian clock and the influencing factors.– 24 hrs

Questions: Do you think you would be able to tell what time it is, without any external cues e.g. the sun? How do you think you could study the 24 hour sleep/wake cycle? How do you think the lack of a day/night sleep cycle would affect someone? On your own try to answer at least the yellow question. Write your answers on a spare piece of paper or the back of you’re A3 sheet.

Case Studies: Case studies are the main source of information on our circadian rhythms. In groups you will be given one of these to find out about. As usual you will need an Aim, Method, Results and Conclusion. You will work on your own to gather the information and then share this with two other people.

Case Study – Siffre (1975): Six Months French Man Internal Body Clock Artificial light for cave navigation 25-30 hour days Cave No natural light https://vimeo.com/7409930 Students need to watch the video then use the key terms to fill out the details of the experiment onto their worksheet Believed he had been in their 5 months Free-running internal body clock

Case Study – Aschoff and Weber (1962): No windows Bunker Electric Light Light source fitted with body clock Turn lights on and off as wished No natural light https://vimeo.com/7409930 Students need to watch the video then use the key terms to fill out the details of the experiment onto their worksheet 25 to 27 hours Pacemakers adjusts to environment

Case Study – Folkard (1985): 22 hours in a day 3 weeks 12 participants Participants weren’t aware Cave No difference noticed One participant couldn’t cope https://vimeo.com/7409930 Students need to watch the video then use the key terms to fill out the details of the experiment onto their worksheet Flexible circadian rhythms

Bring Back the Night Article: Do you think that that CGS should start earlier? Write down some points for both sides of the argument. How do you think our biological clock works? Does this study have any other real- life applications other than for schools?

Brain Tennis: We are now Murrary Vs. Djokavich You need to throw the brain across the classroom and ask a question. Whoever catches it needs to answer. If they answer right they get 15 points. If they get it wrong, you win 15 points. You have 3 minutes to think of 3 questions and the answers.