Premium
The hypnotic effects of melatonin treatment on diurnal sleep in humans
Author(s) -
Matsumoto Miki
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
psychiatry and clinical neurosciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.609
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1440-1819
pISSN - 1323-1316
DOI - 10.1046/j.1440-1819.1999.00480.x
Subject(s) - melatonin , hypnotic , polysomnography , placebo , crossover study , circadian rhythm , sleep (system call) , anesthesia , insomnia , medicine , psychology , pharmacology , apnea , alternative medicine , pathology , computer science , operating system
This study investigated the hypnotic effects of 10 mg melatonin and placebo, which were administered at 10.00 h, according to a single‐blind crossover design, on an 8‐h diurnal sleep from 11.00 to 19.00 h, following a full night of sleep. The subjects were six healthy male students, each of whom underwent polysomnography and rectal temperature monitoring. Melatonin treatment significantly increased total sleep time in diurnal sleep (403.2 ± SD 72.8 min and 258.5 ± 118.3 min, P < 0.001). As to changes in rectal temperature during diurnal sleep, however, there were no significant differences between the melatonin and placebo conditions. Thus, these results indicated that melatonin administered at 10.00 h had direct hypnotic effects on diurnal sleep.