EFFECT OF EXERCISE ON ALCOHOL AND SLEEP (undergrad psyc paper) for your interest

Running head: EFFECT OF EXERCISE ON ALCOHOL AND SLEEP

The effect of exercise in reducing sleep caused by intoxication

Silva Redigonda  

Abstract

"One hundred and four mice, 52 males and 52 females, were assigned to wheel (free-access to a running wheel in their home cage) or no-wheel conditions, with body-weight balanced between the two groups. At the end of a five-week training period, all of the animals were removed from their cages injected with the same dose of alcohol. Their sensitivity to alcohol was accessed by measuring how long it took each mouse to fall asleep. The exercised mice took longer to fall into an alcohol-induced sleep and had reduced sleep duration. Exercise caused a significant decrease in body-weight of male, but not female, mice. The present results suggest that exercise training may be effective in reducing alcohol-induced sleep" (Abstract 2, assignment 3, unknown author, PSYC 2030 Introduction to Research Methods).

The Effect of Exercise in reducing sleep caused by intoxication

Exercise and alcohol consumption are factors that can affect the quality of life for many individuals in society. Exercise is typically considered to have positive health benefits and frequent and/or chronic alcohol consumption is generally associated with negative health risks.  The purpose of this study is to determine how exercise can decrease the negative effects of alcohol consumption on sleep caused by intoxication. 

Previous work has looked at the relationship between exercise and quality of life.  One study looked at how exercise has an important role to play in reducing the rate of aging (Samorajski, Delaney & Durham, 1985).  This study found that exercise helps slow down aging and helps individuals decrease their probability of developing diseases related to aging, "Regular, long-term exercise may retard the normal aging process and help prevent age-related diseases in human beings" (Samorajski et al, 1985).

     Other studies have also investigated the effects of exercise but in relation to the effects of alcohol.  For example, on study looked at the effects of exercise in conjunction with alcohol intoxication and found that prior exercise can reduce the effects of alcohol intoxication (Mollenauer, Bryson, Speck & Chamberlin, 1992).  Another study looked at the opposite relationship and found that alcohol consumption can have a negative effect on exercise, "Alcohol use is directly linked to the rate of injury sustained in sport events and appears to evoke detrimental effects on exercise performance capacity" (El-Sayed, Ali, & El-Sayed Ali, 2005).

     One study reported the effects of exercise and alcohol consumption using rats and found that, "Physical training attenuates the chronic ethanol-induced hypertension via reduction of body weight, clearance of ethanol, and augmentation of the aortic endothelial relaxation response in rats" Husain, Ortiz & Lalla, 2006).  The purpose of the above mentioned study was to discuss the inconsistencies present in the literature about the benefits or risks of alcohol in relation to exercise:

There are contradictory reports about the influence of

chronic alcohol consumption on vascular responsiveness

in the presence and absence of endothelium to    

vasodiators. These conflicting reports are related to

differences in dose, duration and mode of ethanol

exposure at different experimental conditions. Hence,

this study is based on established exact and controlled oral hypertensive dose and duration of ethanol in a rat model. (p. 247)

A study by Finn, Benjamin, Jones, Syapin and Alkana (1989) used mice to investigate how exposure to very cold temperatures can effect the metabolism of alcohol.  The authors of this study contend that, "These results provide further evidence that body temperature during intoxication can have major effects on mortality rates in mice" (Finn et al, 1989).

The studies discussed above have articulated that an effect between alcohol and exercise exists, the relationship between these variables have important implications on quality of life, and that there is a need to study this effect under controlled conditions. This present study, therefore, has combined the existing knowledge of the relationship between the variables at hand to investigate how they can interact with sleep; in particular, sleep induced by intoxication.

Method

Subjects

104 mice were obtained from a laboratory for study purposes. There were 52 male mice and 52 female mice.  The mice were randomly selected and immediately placed in their correct cages according to their condition.  The male and female mice were distributed evenly across conditions so that 26 female mice and 26 male mice were assigned to the wheel condition and 26 female mice and 26 male mice were assigned to the no wheel condition. Ethical procedures were followed in the treatment of the mice. 

Apparatus

     Four large cages were used to house the mice.  Males and females were kept in separate cages and there were separate cages for male or female mice in the wheel or no wheel conditions.  The two cages that were occupied by mice in the wheel condition were equipped with a standard laboratory running wheel made by Samson Co. model number: 1458972363.   The body temperature of the mice were measured by a standard rectal thermometer made by Johnsons and Johnsons model number: 4782349982.  A scale made by Kilby-sons was used to measure body weight, model number: 98726389037. A syringe was used to inject the mice with alcohol and a timer was used to measure time awake and time asleep.

Procedure

     As soon as the mice were brought into the laboratory, they were randomly assigned and placed in their cages.  Temperature measurements were recorded for all mice prior to experimentation to make sure all mice were healthy at the start of the experiment.  No abnormal temperatures were found. All the mice were subsequently weighed to record body weight prior to experimentation. Body weight measurements were compared for all mice to determine if they had been randomly selected and were equivalent in all conditions for body weight.  The analysis of body weight confirmed random assignment.

     After the initial measurements of the mice were collected, the mice were free to roam around their cages.  Food and water were easily accessible to all the mice.  For mice in the wheel condition, the amount of times the wheel was used by a given mouse was recorded in order to record amount of exercise undertaken by each mouse in this condition.  All the mice in the wheel condition were found to have exercised roughly an equal amount. 

     After a five-week exercise regimen, all the mice in the wheel condition and in the no wheel condition were taken out of their cages and injected with 0.001 mg of alcohol.  All mice were injected with the same amount of alcohol. Immediately following the injection, the mice were timed with a timer to record how long it would take them to fall asleep.  Once the mice fell asleep, they were timed for how long they slept.  After the mice woke up, their body weight was measured to determine whether or not their weight fluctuated as a result of the alcohol injection.

Results

Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics to check that there were no differences between the mice in either condition in regards to their temperature and body weight.  Table 1 lists the respective mean body temperature and body weight for mice in either condition.  There were no differences found between groups on these measures.

Data were then analyzed to determine if differences existed between groups for time it took the mice to fall asleep after they were injected with alcohol.   A t-test was used to determine if any differences that were found between the groups were significant.

H_o: m_{time to fall asleep for wheel group} = m_{time to fall asleep for no wheel group}

        H₁: m_{time to fall asleep for wheel group} ¹ m_{time to fall asleep for no wheel group}

a = 0.05

     The subjects averaged M =    minutes to fall asleep in the wheel condition with SD =   . Statistical analysis indicates that the time spent to fall asleep for mice in the wheel condition was significantly more than would be expected by chance, t( ) =   ,p < .05.

Data were then analyzed to determine if differences existed between groups for the duration of sleeping time once the mice fell asleep.   A t-test was used to determine if differences between the groups were significant.

H_o: m_{duration of sleeping time for wheel group} = m_{duration of sleeping time for no wheel group}

H₁: m_{duration of sleeping time for wheel group} ¹ m_{duration of sleeping time for no wheel group}

a = 0.05

     The subjects averaged M =    minutes to stay asleep in the wheel condition with SD =   . Statistical analysis indicates that the time spent sleeping for mice in the wheel condition was significantly less than would be expected by chance, t( ) =   ,p < .05.

Data were analyzed to determine if differences existed between groups for body weight after alcohol injection.   A t-test was used to determine if differences between the groups were significant.

H_o: m_{body weight for wheel group} = m_{body weight for no wheel group}

H₁: m_{body weight for wheel group} ¹ m_{body weight for no wheel group}

a = 0.05

     The male subjects averaged M =    body weight in the wheel condition with SD =   and the female subjects averaged M =    body weight in the wheel condition. Statistical analysis indicates that body weight for the male subjects in the wheel condition was significantly less than would be expected by chance, t( ) =   ,p < .05. The body weight change for female subjects was not significant.

The differences between groups are presented in Table 2.  The differences are also displayed on Figure 1, Figure 2 and Figure 3.

Discussion

     The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not exercise has a positive impact on reducing intoxication-induced sleep.  Based on past studies, exercise has positive health benefits ranging from prolonged longevity (Samorajski et al, 1985) to reducing hypertension and body weight as caused by alcohol consumption (Husain et al, 2006). Based on the results of this present study, exercise helps to prolong the onset of sleep and helps to reduce intoxication-induced sleep. This claim is supported by the length of time it took mice to fall asleep and stay asleep in the two conditions.  The mice who were in the wheel condition and had the opportunity to exercise daily, took longer to fall asleep after being injected with alcohol.  The mice in the wheel condition also spent less time in the intoxication-induced sleep.  The mice who were in the no wheel condition, however, fell asleep much faster after being injected with alcohol and stayed asleep longer as well.  The differences were significant, which demonstrates that these differences were not likely due to chance.

     This study supports findings from other studies, which have also found that exercise can help reduce the negative effects of intoxication (Mollenauer et al, 1992).  It is unclear as to why changes in body weight occurred for males but not for females.  More studies would need to be conducted to investigate this phenomenon.  Another limitation of this study is that the results may not be generalizable to humans, and thus it may not be accurate to say that humans would also experience less sleep-induced intoxication if they were to follow an exercise regimen.  While an experiment such as this one could not be conducted on humans for ethical reasons, it would be possible to recruit participants who self-report high consumption of alcohol and put them on an exercise regimen to determine if similar results would ensue.

References

El-Sayed, M. S., Ali, N., & El-Sayed Ali, Z. (2005). Interaction

between alcohol and exercise. Sports Medicine, 35(3), 257-

269.

Finn, D. A., Bejanian, M., Jones, B. L., Syapin, P. J., &

Alkana, R.L.(1989). Temperature affects ethanol lethality

in C57BL/6, 129, LS and SS mice. Pharmacology Biochemistry

& Behavior, 34, 375-380.

Husain, K., Ortiz, M. V., & Lalla, J. (2006). Physical training

ameliorates chronic alcohol-induced hypertension and aortic

reactivity in rats. Alcohol & Alcoholism, 41, 247-253.

Mollenauer, S., Bryson, R., Speck, C, & Chamberlin, J. R.(1992).

     Effects of exercise on ethanol-induced hypothermia

and loss of righting response in C7BL/6J mice. Pharmacology

Biochemistry & Behavior, 43, 285-290.

Samorajski, T., Delaney, C., & Durham, L. (1985). Effect of

exercise on longevity, body weight, locomotor performance,

and passive-avoidance memory of C57BL/6J mice. Neurobiology

of aging, 6, 17-24.

 

 

Table 1

Means for Different Treatments

Condition	Mean Male Mice Body Temperature	Mean Female Mice Body Temperature	Mean Male Mice Body Weight	Mean Female Mice Body Weight
Wheel
No Wheel

 

Table 2

Condition	Mean Male time to fall asleep	Mean Female time to fall asleep	Mean Male time to stay asleep	Mean female time to stay asleep
Wheel
No Wheel

 

 

 

 

 

Figure Captions

Figure 1. Graph of amount of time to sleep per condition

Figure 2. Graph of amount of time spent sleeping per condition

Figure 3. Graph of body weight change in male mice

Time it took mice to fall asleep per condition

Length of time mice spent sleeping per condition

Changes in body weight for male mice per condition

Male body weight

Wheel

No Wheel

 

Stage model of lifespan development - psych notes

Schaie’s   (1977- 78) stage model of lifespan development:

1.  Acquisitive Stage :  Children and adolescents acquire information for own sake.

2.  Achieving Stage:     Late teens and twenties, use knowledge to be competent and independent.

3.  Responsible Stage:  Late 30’s to early 60’s – Knowledge to accomplish goals, solve practical problems associated with their work and family responsibilities.

4.  Executive Stage:  30’s and 40’s – achieving and responsible stages overlap and are custodians of social life.

5.  Re-integrative Stage:  Older adults – concentration on what has personal meaning.         

An invitation to former fellow students

I have sent all my peers from 2nd Advance Counselling Education an email suggesting we all get together for peer review, referrals, sharing of reading material and of course socializing.   I suggested once a month Mondays or Saturdays and am waiting for feedback.  Anyone else who have already graduated ahead of us is welcomed to join us if you wish.   My email will be in your old manuals.  It has not changed.

What do you think?

Post- Formal thought and Social reasoning (psyc notes)

 Social problems arise out of necessary subjectivity in which there are different views of a situation and “reality” is in part created by the knower (Sinnott, 1984, p 250).  Immature thinkers are more egocentric and less able to detach emotionally from a problem.  Older, more mature thinkers are aware of the subjectivity involved in problem issues and recommend solutions based on understanding and mutual respect for the parties involved.  Sometimes crises situations prompts a shift to more advanced post-formal thought patterns when the world no longer makes “sense” as it has previously.

Sinnot’s (1984) criteria for post-formal thought:

1.  Shifting gears - seeing from another point of view.

2.  Multiple causality, multiple solutions.

3.  Pragmatism - how practical is this? Can we do it? And

4.  Awareness of Paradox – ironies.    

LIFE AFTER DEATH (BOOK REPORT)

LIFE AFTER DEATH

                                                                                              by: Silva Redigonda                                                                                   

            People search for answers to what is not fully understood.  Death is not only

puzzling, it has a mysterious finality to it.  There are people who determine death to be

the end for themselves and for those who they have loved and died.   Others find death to be a

passage towards some other chance at life such as re-incarnation.  There are also those who

believe that they will go to their creator – God.  There are endless possibilities to the creative

mind.  Life After Life[1] by Raymond Moody promises a dimension between life and death.   This

paper will list what the author has gleaned from his interviews with or about people who have

died or were near death.  At the same time the reliability of what is disclosed will be examined.

 

Life After

    In Dr Moody’s Life After Life  the author explains that he writes primarily about reports, accounts or narratives which others have provided verbally and includes third parties.

These reports involve  being able to see and hear what is going on when people are pronounced dead but not able to talk, feel others, or feel pain.  There are reported sensations of peace and comfort.  There are sounds which are pleasant (14-19) and sounds that are disturbing.  There are also recordings of a passage through a dark tunnel with a floating sensation, of weightlessness to their new spiritual bodies (pp 21, 35).

     Dr Moody indicates that he is not trying to prove that there is life after death (xxvii).  This seems clear in how he presents his information.  Dr Moody will report two people having a similar experience of a voice telling them that they have to go back [to life] (p 48).  He will report one other person who associates heat with the light who talks to him (p54). In another he will report the observations of another, sole person, “It was a fun person to be with! It had a sense of humor, too- definitely.”(p55).  There seems to be general sense of vagueness regarding the information that is provided.   As an example, there is no explanation for the humor or what the humor is.  There seems to be a consistency of unanswered questions.  Who is each participant?  What are the backgrounds of these people?  The author does report listing the findings from 50 cases (p 9) so why isn’t he more specific with each case and why is it common for the author to report similar findings from only one or two cases as mentioned?

     The author begins his study with one man’s particular experience.  This man states that he heard himself being pronounced dead by his doctor.  The participant then hears a loud ringing or buzzing and feels himself moving rapidly through a long dark tunnel.  He subsequently finds himself as a spectator as he watches himself being resuscitated at a distance from his physical body which is different from its’ physical form.  He also has different powers from its’ former self.   Spirits of dead relatives and friends come to meet and help him.   A beam of light also approaches and speaks to him “nonverbally” so that he may question his life.  The man then finds himself at a “barrier or border” from this life to the next.  He returns to his body which he resists.  He experiences intense feelings of joy, love and peace (p 11-12). 

     The aforementioned is documented as an actual account from one person.  However, the author concludes that it is not intended to be a representation of anyone person’s experience but a model of common elements found in many stories.  In Dr Moody’s “abstract model,” each element occurs in many separate stories”(p 12).  Providing an abstract model and not indicating such at the beginning of the description of events, becomes distracting.  There is an aura of trickery by what is eventually disclosed.  However, one cannot ignore the thought provoking ideas that is encouraging.  Dr Moody reports that one participant who suffers a heart attack finds himself in a gray mist, with wonderful lights and people and perhaps buildings.  He is told by his “Uncle Carl” (who died years earlier) to “go back” because his “work on earth is not completed.”(pp 68-69)  One is left wondering if that is what life is about?  Is it about completing our work?  Then what is my work, one may ask?  

    Life After Life reveals that some of the participants have a change of attitude for the better.  Dr Moody indicates that “almost every person has expressed” that he no longer fears death (p 88). Though it is unknown exactly how many participants are religious and from what faiths, Dr Moody does indicate that, “Others say that although they had read religious writings, such as the Bible, they had never really understood certain things they had read until their near-death experiences (p 129).  What that is, is never clarified but one may presume that if a person experiences death, than life in general would have more meaning. 

The author does provide comments from individuals and extends this to “a small number of cases” without indicating exactly how many have an altering life experience.   These changes include life being more precious, the mind being more important than the body, and in a “small number of cases” acquiring or noticing intuition bordering on the psychic (pp 84-87).   The author indicates that there seems to be no difference in experiences reported by the men or women, though women seem to be able to talk about their experiences more. Since Dr Moody never provides a gender demographic, there is again an element of inconclusiveness.  It should be noted that when Dr Moody reveals that “almost every person has expressed…” (p88).  These persons are referred to as “…he…”.   How many men actually were hesitant to report the findings from the 50 cases?  It appears that women may be the minority in the cases presented  if the author is to be taken literally.  This continuous vagueness of where the information is from, is at times difficult because it gives the reader a feeling of incompleteness.  However, this feeling is also often replaced by genuine curiosity when cases seem to become more real, even proven.   “In quite a few instances” many persons report being out of their bodies for extended periods and these could be verified by what they saw when they should not have been able to as they were dead or close to death.  Several doctors have reported being baffled that patients with no medical knowledge could describe in details the resuscitation “attempts” when the patient was “dead” (p. 93).  This is interesting because Dr Moody also indicates that in only one of the cases did a physician reveal any familiarity at all with near-death experience (p.80).  Reliability is put to the absolute test when Dr Moody provides an account of authenticity for his participants. “I have detected in their voices sincerity, warmth, and feeling which cannot really be conveyed in a written recounting.  So to me, in a way that is unfortunately impossible for many others to share, the notion that these accounts might be fabrications is utterly untenable.”(p 126) This belief in his participants continues with they, “are not victims of psychosis.  They have struck me as emotionally stable, normal people who are functional in society.  They hold jobs and positions of importance and carry them out responsibly. They have stable marriages and are involved with their family and friends….” (p160).  It appears that Dr Moody’s idea of honesty from his participates is very subjective.  How sure can one be that every participant is truthful?  Is there at least an acknowledgment of a margin of error?  Apparently not.  There is a sense of truth due to the similarities of information cited but the reader must take the word of the author for everything that is provided.  There is also at times a climate of what seems incredulous, such as one participant’s report of a spirit in the shape of a ball of light, globe like with a hand reaching out of it (p 96).  This seems to be the extreme from what is usually reported.

          The author indicates that his study is not scientific because his sample of participants is not a random sample of humans.  His definition of random sampling is restricted to an example of demographics of “Eskimos, Kwakiutl Indians, Navahoes, Watusi tribesmen, and so on.  However due to geographic and other limitations, I have not been able to locate any (p 133).”  One wonders if the author understands the definition of “sample”.  A sample is a set of individuals selected from the population, usually intended to represent the population in a research study.  For example one study might examine a sample of 10 children in a preschool program or use a sample of over 1000 registered voters.[2]          

The End

    Life After Life has sold over 13 million copies worldwide.  A phone consultation with Dr Moody is $200.00 per hour.[3]   This demonstrates that people hunger to know about experiences after this life time. Someone may read this book and realize that a dream she had was not a dream but a life after life experience.  She in turn can soothe her ill mother with that knowledge.   People need to believe that there is something more, that there is a God and another place that can be called home.  Sometimes people need more than the written word.  They need proof that there is more than this.   Dr Moody has successfully teased the brain to want to know more about life after death.  But, Dr Moody has also failed to demonstrate a satisfactory degree of reliability.

---

[1] Moody, Raymond. Life After Life.  New York: Harper Collins, 2001.  Further reference to the text will be indicated by page number only.  

[2] Gravetter, Frederick  J., and Wallnau, Larry B.  Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences. Sixth Ed. Wadsworth: Belmont (2004).

[3] The Official Online Presence of Raymond A. Moody, M.D., PhD.  Life After Life.  (1997-2005) Online.  Raymond Moody.  Internet 6 Oct. 2009. Available:  www.lifeafterlife.com.