Effects of Sleep Interruption on Body Temperature in Human Subjects

We interrupted the nocturnal sleep of human subjects for an hour and investigated the effect on body temperature (BT). The interruption elicited sleep onset rapid eye movement period (SOREMP). We compared the BT patterns obtained during nights with SOREMP at the second sleep onset (SOREMP nights) and those obtained during nights without SOREMPs (non-SOREMP nights) with those obtained during baseline nights. BT decreased markedly after sleep interruption on both SOREMP and non-SOREMP nights. It remained lower for 2 hours after the second sleep onset when compared with the corresponding period on the baseline nights. Consequently, the minimum BT was lower and the timing of the minimum was advanced when compared with baseline. The fall of BT after sleep interruption was not accompanied by any increase in slow wave sleep (SWS, stage 3 + 4) when compared with the baseline nights. Thus, we suggest that no direct relationship exists between the decrease of BT and the amount of SWS. On SOREMP nights, the fall of BT from lights-out to the second sleep onset was larger than on non-SOREMP nights. This lower body temperature at the second sleep onset may reflect the physiological background necessary for the appearance of SOREMPs.