Breakdown information and notes on CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS - Evaluation sheet to use
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A03: Circadian Rhythms: COLOUR CODE THE POINT EXPLAIN AND ELABORATE
POINT EXPLAIN ELABORATE/HOWEVER
In the cave studies the exposure to artificial lights For example, the risk of heart attack is greatest in This suggests that results cannot be generalised from
Practical application to such as torches/phones was not controlled. early morning so drugs can be taken at night, but not these small samples onto everyone, as factors such as
shift work released until when they will be most effective at age and gender may have significant impacts on our
dusk. circadian rhythms.
This means that the results to the original studies may
Research has shown that night shift workers suffer a lack validity and the sleep wake cycle may vary
By understanding circadian rhythms and their impact concentration lapse at 6am , increasing the likelihood considerably more. Additionally, the impact of
Application:
on health, it can help determine the best time to of accidents, and shift workers are also three times artificial lighting on our circadian rhythms also has
Pharmacokinetics
administer drug treatments. more likely to suffer from heart disease as a result practical implications when it comes to the use of
from the stress of adjusting to sleep/wake cycles. electronic devices such as iPad and smartphones
during different times of the day.
The Siffre study was only on one individual, and the It was assumed it was only natural light that has an This suggests that the body’s internal clock is set 24-
Folkard, Wever and Aschoff studies were conducted influence on our biological rhythms, however 25 hours in the absence of external cues, and is
Support from the ‘cave
on only a handful of people. research by Czeisler found that dim artificial lighting intolerant of any major alterations to sleep and wake
study’
could adjust the circadian rhythm between 22-28 cycles, through processes such as shift work and jet
hours. lag.
Consequently, it is impossible to generalise these
results to whole populations of people, as there may
be some individual differences in the research sample
This research has many economic implications, in
Shift work has been found to lead to that makes these participants respond to the changes
Issues with case study the sleep/wake cycle in atypical ways. For example, terms of maintaining worker productivity and
desynchronization of circadian rhythms and can lead preventing accidents in the workplace.
evidence Siffre noted that when he went into the cave at 60yr
to adverse cognitive and physiological effects
his body responded very differently, with his body
clock following more of a 48hr cycle. And Czeisler has
found evidence that cycles can vary by as much as 13-
65 hours.
Poor control in studies Michael Siffre spent two months in the caves of the Further research support by Wever and Aschoff had a This means that there are peak times for
southern Alps deprived of light and sound, group of participants live in a WWII bunker for four administration and dosage of a variety of drugs that
determining that his circadian rhythm remained weeks and found that the sleep/wake cycle lasted treat a range of disorders such as cancer, epilepsy and
between 24-25 hours. just under 25hours concluding that exogenous respiratory issues, that increase their efficacy.
zeitgebers (light hours’/meal times) may have an
impact mediating the cycle. However other research
by Folkard set participants' sleep and wake times that
initially fit with a 24-hour day, but then unknown to
the participants sped up the clock so the cycle only
lasted 22 hours. This had a significant impact on the
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