Discuss the consequences of disrupting biological rhythms

        Shift work can lead to sleep deprivation, workers who have to sleep by day often experience sleep problems because when the finish work its daylight and there are other distributions such as noise outside and daylight induces sleep quality as our exogenous zietgebers will try to entrain our circadian rhythm to sleep when its dark. However there is a to ‘cure’ to the effects of shift work. Melatonin is a natural hormone that induces sleep Herxheimer and Petrie (2001) reviewed 10 studies and found that where melatonin has been taken near to sleep , it has been remarkably effective, however if it was taken at the wrong time of day it may actually delay sleep adaption’s. This study is has real world validity as it could be a ‘cure’ for people that find it hard to get to sleep of a night but also people that have shift lag or jet lag.

        In the terms of ‘jet lag it is generally used to refer to the physiological effects of disturbing biological rhythms – even those that do not arise from jet travel. Our biological rhythms are not well enough equipped to cope with sudden changes. It has been estimated that our circadian cycle takes several cycles to readjust to the large environmental changes. This is because our ancestors would never move between time zones is short amounts of time so there circadian cycle was never disrupted in the way that it is today meaning that we have not evolved enough to take in new environmental changes. However jet lag can be affected by many other individual factors which need to be taken into account  such as worrying before travel so not sleeping well, travel itself is tiring, and many people’s holidays involve long out travelling, drinking alcohol and coffee (which both have negative effects on sleeping). Also when travelling there is constant noise, low oxygen cabin air and other annoying passengers. It is important in psychological research to take into account individual differences as every person is different failure to do so will lead the research to have validity problems.

        To conclude, the consequences of disturbing biological rhythms are an important factor to take into everyday life, especially for shift workers and people that travel a lot. People will always deal with the effects of disturbing biological rhythms differently.