01:830:101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Seasonal Affective Disorder, Pineal Gland, Sleep Paralysis

• School: Rutgers University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: 01:830:101
• Professor: Dr. Brynildsen

Document Summary

Circadian rhythm : biological clock; controlled by hypothalamus. Suprachiasmatic nucleus (scn) : in hypothalamus; sensitive to changes in light. Gets darker scn tells pineal gland to secrete melatonin. Gets lighters scn tells pineal gland to stop secreting melatonin. Seasonal affective disorder (sad) : depression that develops when there is a lack of sunlight (usually during the winter) Sleep stages: 90 minutes cycles of sleep stages. Types of sleep: non-rapid eye movement (n-rem) : non-dreaming sleep (3 stages, stage 1 : similar to drowsiness i. ii. Hypnic or hypnagogic jerk : muscles tense; feeling of falling. Hypnagogic hallucinations : seeing or thinking things that are not real: stage 2 : true sleep - reductions in heart rate and muscle tension, stage 3/4 : deeply asleep, hard to awaken, disoriented when awakened i. Growth hormones released from pituitary: rapid eye movement (rem) : brain waves resemble wakefulness. Heart rate, blood pressure, breathing-- rapid or irregular.