Research paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Research paper - Essay Example The term circadian traces back its roots to the Latin words circa, which means around, and dies, which means day. It refers to biological processes in plants and animals that repeat in 24-hour cycles (American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (3rd ed.)). Indeed, the most obvious function of circadian rhythms in humans is the sleep/wake cycle, wherein adults generally tend to become sleepy between 10 PM and midnight and to awaken feeling rested between 6 AM and 8 AM. Research indicates that poor sleeping quality contributes to a myriad of illnesses such as hypertension, cardiac arrest, stroke, hyperthyroidism, and eventual fatality (Shneerson 102). Considering the detrimental effects that poor quality sleep and irregular sleeping patterns cause, it is important to know what factors contribute to the disruption of the body’s circadian rhythm. In particular, this paper would like to investigate if engaging in shifting schedules is among the factors that contribute to t he disruption of the body’s circadian rhythm. II. Review of Related Literature Circadian rhythm is just one of the many periodic cycles that the human body adheres to. Other periodic events in the human body include ultradian rhythms, women’s menstrual cycle, and circannual rhythms that are present in both males and females. Circadian rhythms are â€Å"caused by oscillators situated in the cell nuclei with a number of genes participating and creating a translational–transcriptional feedback system in which some gene products accumulate and inhibit the clock gene function, followed by a release of gene function when the gene products are removed metabolically out of the feedback cycle† (Haus & Smolensky 491). Studies show that certain social, cultural, and industrial developments have disrupted this supposedly regular body cycle. For one, the development of the light bulb has radically changed people’s sleep patterns because the artificial light tha t a light bulb emits fools the body into thinking that it is daylight and thus contributes to the phenomenon of people staying up late at night and waking up late in the morning (Moore-Ede 157). In addition, the intake of caffeine and alcohol has also affected the quality of sleep that people enjoy. Large doses of caffeine are found to increase the heart rate and stimulate the brain and behavior (Nordegren 54). On the other hand, alcohol intake briefly causes drowsiness and is thus used by some people to initiate sleep. However, tolerance to its hypnotic effect often leads to an increase in the amount being ingested until sleep-wake patterns are totally disrupted in the end (Shneerson 105). Changes in today’s lifestyle also entails that people no longer engage in â€Å"normal working hours.† Harrington defines normal working hours in such a way that the individual works during the day and rests during the night, with some time left for recreation and other activities ( 58). People who do not engage in normal working hours tend to either work at night, on with extended hours or on shifts, thus violating the regular pattern of working at day and resting at night. In particular, three generally followed shifting schedules are the night shift which starts at 2200 hours, the morning shift which begins at 0600 hours, and the afternoon shift which typically commences at 1400 hours (Harrington 59; Akerstedt 90). Akerstedt further specifies that these different shift schedules also have different effects on