Psychology Incursion

Year 12 Psychology Incursion

The Year 12 Psychology classes were lucky enough to have Julie Howes from the Epworth Sleep Centre educate students about sleep, providing in depth detail about what sleep actually is, what happens during sleep and the problems that can transpire in some individuals when asleep. Julie demonstrated how to operate a polysomnogram on one of the student’s, which records detects, amplifies and records electrical activity in the brain, in the muscles, and the muscles around the eyes. Julie also displayed how a CPAP machine works, which treats sleep apnoea. 

The incursion took place in the hall where Julie had a screen set up to display the data from the polysomnogram. To many student’s surprise, the polysomnogram was extremely reactive and data was displayed almost immediately after the student completed an action. Soon after, the students were exposed to videos which highlighted the importance of sleep through several sleep problems such as sleep apnoea, sleep walking and bruxism which causes patients to grind their teeth during their sleep. Overall, the incursion helped to put our studies in a more practical real-world experience and it was interesting to see how the technology works to help patients understand their sleep. The incursion was certainly enjoyed by all!

Janine Agarano and Jean Leano (Year 12 Psychology students)