Diurnal fluctuation of sleep propensity across the menstrual cycle.
Most women experience sleep changes across the menstrual cycle. We applied the ultra-short sleep-wake schedule to healthy females to compare their 24-h sleep propensity rhythms in the follicular and luteal phases. The daytime (09.00-16.30 h) subjective sleepiness and the number of slow wave sleep-containing nap trials increased in the luteal phase compared to the follicular phase, but the mean sleep propensity did not change. During the periods of 17.00-00.30 h and 01.00-08.30 h there were no differences between the two phases. These results suggest that increased daytime sleepiness in the luteal phase may be related to brain mechanisms controlling slow wave sleep.
Shibui
K
K
Department of Psychophysiology, National Institute of Mental Health, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Ichikawa, Chiba, Japan.
Uchiyama
M
M
Okawa
M
M
Kudo
Y
Y
Kim
K
K
Kamei
Y
Y
Hayakawa
T
T
Akamatsu
T
T
Ohta
K
K
Ishibashi
K
K
D000328:Adult; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology; D002940:Circadian Rhythm / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005498:Follicular Phase / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008183:Luteal Phase / Q000502:physiology; D008597:Menstrual Cycle / Q000502:physiology*; D017286:Polysomnography; D012894:Sleep Stages / Q000502:physiology*; D014851:Wakefulness / Q000502:physiology*