Circadian rhythms are the roughly 24-hour patterns of physiological processes in living organisms. In psychology, circadian rhythms help explain how the human body functions and how those functions affect behavior. Circadian rhythms involve changes in body temperature, blood pressure, mental alertness, metabolism, hormone secretion, sleeping, and eating. Disruptions in circadian rhythms are linked to depression, stress, and sleep problems; for example, someone who flies to a significantly different time zone might suffer insomnia. Changes in light and darkness can affect circadian rhythms, as when a person grows drowsy with nightfall. However, studies show that people maintain approximately the same circadian rhythms even when living in the total absence of natural light; this suggests that circadian rhythms mainly depend on factors internal to the body.
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In social sciences there are many key concepts and terms that are crucial for students to know and understand. Often it can be hard to determine what the most important social sciences concepts and terms are, and even once you’ve identified them you still need to understand what they mean. To help you learn and understand key social sciences terms and concepts, we’ve identified some of the most important ones and provided detailed definitions for them, written and compiled by Chegg experts.