Sunday, December 5, 2010
Circadian Rhythms
My roomate was recently diagnosed with Mononucleosis. Over the past week of her being sick, everytime I walk into the room and see her sleeping I've been thinking how draining that must be to basically be forced to sleep that much because of the virus. Mono has thrown off her circadian rhythm, and even after the illness goes away, it will take her a while to get back on track with her normal sleeping patterns. I never really realized how your circadian rhythm can be affected by every day things such as an illness.
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Classical Conditioning
ReplyDeleteWhile learning about classical conditioning i found that i had actually conditioned myself unknowingly to place my hands on the wheel the same place every time i got into the car. During the winter i would turn the heat on and point the direction of the fans to the points on which my hands touched the wheel, now every time i get into my car, whether or not its cold outside i put my hands in the same place because im expecting to feel more comfortable with my hands in that place on the wheel.
It is very interesting. I had Mononucleosis in my junior year of high school and all I wanted to do was sleep. When I felt better, for the first few days, it was really difficult to get back on track. Due to my sleeping so much during the day, I found it hard to sleep during the night which resulted in a very fatigued feeling during the day. Eventually, I felt as though I needed to retrain my body, in a sense, to regain the ability to stay awake through the day, and not nap, and sleep through the night without disruptions. Thankfully, this process only took a few days, but it was quite exhausting! It is very interesting how much a person's circadian rhythm can be thrown off!
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