Circadian variation of catecholamine excretion and sleep (original) (raw)
Summary
Six male subjects were exposed to seven different bedtimes — one per week — scheduled in 4-h intervals. Sleep length was ad lib with spontaneous awakenings. The time awake varied between 16 and 40 h. The influence of overt time-of-day cues was minimized. Urine for analysis of catecholamines was collected in 2-h intervals during waking and for each of the sleep episodes. Sleep length varied strongly with the time of day, the longest sleep (8–11 h) occurring after evening bedtimes, and the shortest (4–5 h) after morning and noon bedtimes. Adrenaline excretion during waking showed a clear circadian pattern, peaking around noon, while no significant rhythm was found for noradrenaline excretion. The excretion of noradrenaline was strongly reduced by sleep, irrespective of the time of day. The circadian pattern of adrenaline during waking was abolished during sleep; sleep reduced excretion to the same low level irrespective of the time of day. In the early morning waking levels were equal to those of sleep. Waking adrenaline excretion correlated _r_=−0.59 with total sleep time. It was concluded that sleep exerts a strong inhibitory effect on both catecholamines and that, for adrenaline, this masking effect combines with circadian effects.
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Authors and Affiliations
- National Institute for Psychosocial Factors and Health and Laboratory for Clinical Stress Research, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
Torbjörn åkerstedt - National Defence Research Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
Mats Gillberg
Authors
- Torbjörn åkerstedt
- Mats Gillberg
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åkerstedt, T., Gillberg, M. Circadian variation of catecholamine excretion and sleep.Europ. J. Appl. Physiol. 51, 203–210 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00455183
- Accepted: 12 March 1983
- Issue date: August 1983
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00455183