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Free-running sleep is a rare sleep pattern whereby the sleep schedule of a person shifts later every day. [1] It occurs as the sleep disorder non-24-hour sleep–wake disorder or artificially as part of experiments used in the study of circadian rhythms and other rhythms in biology .
Although circadian rhythms are endogenous, they are adjusted to the local environment by external cues called zeitgebers (from German Zeitgeber (German: [ˈtsaɪtˌɡeːbɐ]; lit. ' time giver ')), which include light, temperature and redox cycles. In clinical settings, an abnormal circadian rhythm in humans is known as a circadian rhythm sleep ...
A circadian rhythm is an entrainable, endogenous, biological activity that has a period of roughly twenty-four hours. This internal time-keeping mechanism is centralized in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) of humans, and allows for the internal physiological mechanisms underlying sleep and alertness to become synchronized to external environmental cues, like the light-dark cycle. [4]
According to the International Classification of Sleep Disorders, Revised (ICSD-R, 2001), [10] the circadian rhythm sleep disorders share a common underlying chronophysiologic basis: The major feature of these disorders is a misalignment between the patient's sleep-wake pattern and the pattern that is desired or regarded as the societal norm...
This diagram depicts the circadian patterns typical of someone who rises early in morning, eats lunch around noon, and sleeps at night (10 p.m.). Although circadian rhythms tend to be synchronized with cycles of light and dark, other factors - such as ambient temperature, meal times, stress and exercise - can influence the timing as well. Date
A constant routine protocol is a common method used in human circadian rhythm research to study internally generated, or endogenous, circadian rhythms without the effect of external, or exogenous, influences. In the method, subjects are kept in constant conditions for at least 24 hours. [1]
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The sleep diary, or sleep log, is a tool used by doctors and patients. [1] [2] [3] It is a useful resource in the diagnosis and treatment of especially circadian rhythm sleep disorders, and in monitoring whether treatment of those and other sleep disorders is successful. Sleep diaries may be used in conjunction with actigraphy.