Biological Rhythms Essay Questions

Describe and evaluate reserach studies into infradian rhythms - (25 marks)

Infradian rhythms are rhythms that last for more than 24 hours like bird migrations or a womens menstrual cycle, as they last for 28 days. Mestrual cycles cause women to experience physical and emotional changes through the duration of the cycle. At certain points of ovulation, women are not considered to be 'themselves'. A womens jail sentence was reduced from murder to manslaughter because she was ovulating whilst comitting the crime. Female boars also experience changes during their menstrual cycle, if a female boar is exposed to the saliva of a male boar then she will immediately shift into a mating stance. However as this is an animal study it can not be generalised to humans.

Another study showed that women who were on birth control pills were less likely to initiate sexual activity during their 'time of month' than women who were not on birth control pills. This may be because women on birth control pills were exposed to hormones more often and so when they recieved the hormones naturally…