Relationship between rapid eye movement sleep and testosterone secretion in normal men

The relation between the pituitary‐gonadal hormones' rhythm and sleep physiology in men is not fully elucidated. To examine whether the reproductive hormones are correlated with sleep architecture, we determined the nocturnal serum levels of testosterone, luteinizing hormone (LH), and follicle‐...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of andrology 1999-11, Vol.20 (6), p.731-737
Main Authors: Luboshitzky, R, Herer, P, Levi, M, Shen-Orr, Z, Lavie, P
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Activity Cycles
Adult
Analysis of Variance
Biological and medical sciences
Follicle Stimulating Hormone - blood
follicle‐stimulating hormone
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Hormone metabolism and regulation
Humans
Luteinizing hormone
Luteinizing Hormone - blood
Male
Mammalian male genital system
Polysomnography
Reference Values
sleep stages
Sleep Stages - physiology
Sleep, REM - physiology
Testosterone - blood
Testosterone - secretion
Vertebrates: reproduction
Wakefulness - physiology
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The relation between the pituitary‐gonadal hormones' rhythm and sleep physiology in men is not fully elucidated. To examine whether the reproductive hormones are correlated with sleep architecture, we determined the nocturnal serum levels of testosterone, luteinizing hormone (LH), and follicle‐stimulating hormone (FSH) in six healthy young men. Serum hormone levels were obtained every 15 minutes from 1900 to 0700 hours with simultaneous polysomnography sleep recordings. Hourly testosterone levels were lowest when subjects were awake (1900–2200 hours) than during sleep (2300‐0700 hours). Testosterone nocturnal rise antedated the first REM by about 90 minutes. The rise in testosterone levels was slower when REM latency was longer. Mean nocturnal testosterone levels did not correlate with the number of rapid eye movment (REM) episodes. Also, pre‐non‐REM (NREM) testosterone levels were higher as compared with the pre‐REM periods and lower during the first NREM period as compared with other nocturnal NREM periods. Serum LH levels disclosed a nocturnal rise that proceeded a similar rise in testosterone by about an hour. We conclude that in young adult men, testosterone levels begin to rise on falling asleep, peak at about the time of first REM, and remain at the same levels until awakening.
ISSN:0196-3635
1939-4640
DOI:10.1002/j.1939-4640.1999.tb03378.x