ULTRADIAN

• WHAT IS AN ULTRADIAN RHYTHM?

  rhythm that occurs more than once every 24 hours/ have duration of under 24 hours

  -> short gap between cycles
• EXAMPLE OF AN ULTRADIAN RHYTHM?

  alternation between REM and NREM sleep during the night
• ENDOGENOUS PACEMAKERS INVOLVED IN REM AND NREM?

  • brainstem
  • neural activity
• EXOGENOUS ZEITGEBERS INVOLVED IN REM AND NREM?

  • frequently changing sleep schedules
  • stress
• RESEARCH ON ULTRADIAN RHYTHMS?

  Dement and Kleitman
• DEMENT AND KLEITMAN'S RESEARCH?

  • 9 participants in sleep lab
  • recorded brain activity using EEG
  • controlled caffeine and alcohol
  • found participants went through 5 cycles of sleep and REM was important for dreaming (participants woken up int his stage could recall a lot about their dreams)
  • amount of brain activity correlated to how vivid dreams were
• DISCUSSION OF DEMENT AND KLEITMAN'S RESEARCH?

  Small sample size

  • not generalisable
  • individual differences
  • artificial sleep lab does not reflect own bed

  Real world application

  • understanding about each sleep stage
  • developed treatments (e.g. for night terrors)
  • Kleitman suggested similar rest and activity day cycle
  • need breaks every 90-120 minutes of activity
  • help organise work and activities that include regular breaks