I recently took human factors @ JAR66 Cat A level and there werent any questions on circadian rhythms however something interesting is apparent from our tuition on them...
Circa - Circle or circular patterns
Dian - Day or Daily
so Circadian is greek for Daily Rhythms...
Circadian Rhythms are a natural "Body Clock" and this is reset EVERY sunrise... This clock causes jet lag. Your body feels in one timezone when your mind is saying that its a totally different time
It helps resets the body clock when you change time zones... Without it, you would find it very difficult to accustomise to different timezones because your mind and body would think it to be one time when infact it isnt...
The facts of Circadian rhythms are that your body temperature is lowest and therefore your performance is not as good between the hours of 4am and 6am. So if you are in the middle of a 12hr shift between those hours, you will perform less well than if you were working the day shift. No matter how much sleep you get.
The resetting of the rhythms means that if you always work the night shift and live your entire life like its a night shift then your body will accustomise to it and your circadian rhythm will change to accompany this. Thats what Jet Lag is like, doing night shift and it being 5am. You feel !!!!. You are tired and you arent sure what you should eat next.
When you jet lag, try and get into the rhythm of the day @ your destination as soon as possible. It will help your body better.
I dont know about your exam if it is CAA, dont worry about Jet Lag as they wont want to know the intricate details... They just want to know if you understand circadian rhythms. Not JetLag
Hope this helps
