Circadian Rhythms Essay -- essays research papers

Tomas Izquierdo has not slept since 1945. Due to an attack of encephalitis, an inner head word inflammation, his ability to fall asleep was lost at the age of 13. Although he rests with his eyes closed, his brain patterns be those of someone who is fully awake and aware. He has memory problems and real sensitive eyes, but is otherwise completely normal. To relax, he usually uses transcendental meditation from about three or quartet AM until the morning (Coleman 94).Tomas Izquierdo is what one might call someone without circadian rhythms. Circadian rhythms are the daily sleep patterns of humans. Circadian rhythms tell sight when they are most alert, when they flavor tired, and when they should wake up. These circadian rhythms, while arduous to research, are important to many industries, as hygienic as a multitude of sleep disorder patients. For several years, scientists and doctors birth been seeking a greater realizeing of these patterns through constant, difficult, and d ebauched paced research. The applications of such knowledge would be quite beneficial in shift based industries as well as some special circumstances. As of yet, doctors have been sufficient to define a few important correlations between internal time cues and sleep, activities or events that give cues to the brain about what time it is or should be. However, the research is very difficult.Researching sleep is difficult for a variety of flat coats. The first reason for difficultness is the nature of experimentation. To truly isolate the sleep patterns, all time-giving cues, or zietgebers, have to be eliminated. Light, electromagnetic waves, the schedules of researchers, and even the growth of a facial pig on outsiders may lead the pillow slip to guess the time of day. The remains can detect even the faintest cues of time, so it is incredibly important that the idea be completely shut off from time giving cues. If the subject of the research knows the time of day, he or she m ay adjust accordingly, skewing results and making it all but impossible to collect the data needed.Another reason for the difficulty of sleep research is the pace of discovery. The field moves too fast for its own good. As a result, no comprehensive beginners text is available in the field of circadian rhythms. By the time... ... a part of their brain known as the suprachiasmatic nucleus, or SCN, gets smaller. The SCN is the primary sinoatrial node for most circadian functions in the brain. It is responsible for the production of the sleep endocrine melatonin. As the SCN decreases in size, less melatonin is produced, causing a shift in sleep patterns. The drop in melatonin, just as in reprehensible patients, can cause restlessness. In order to counteract this melatonin loss, many of the immemorial sit in front of light boxes, just like the dreary patients, at the end of the day for a few hours (Center for Biological).Circadian rhythms are part of the daily lives of humans. The y cue our levels of alertness, our need for sleep, and our time of waking. To better understand these rhythms, scientists from around the globe have participated in difficult research for years. As of yet, the research shows that light, hormones, exercise, age, and a variety of other factors are important in determining circadian rhythms. Perhaps in the future, scientists will be able to manipulate circadian rhythms so that people no longer feel fatigue. By then, maybe Tomas Izquierdo could finally get some long derelict sleep.