The dependence of onset and duration of sleep on the circadian rhythm of rectal temperature

Abstract

The sleep-wake cycle and the circadian rhythm of rectal temperature were recorded in subjects who lived singly in an isolation unit. In 10 subjects, the freerunning rhythms remained internally synchronized, 10 other subjects showed internal desynchronization. Times of onset and end of bedrest (“sleep”) were determined in each cycle and referred to the phase of the temperature rhythm. In the synchronized subjects, onset of sleep occurred, on the average, 1.34 h before the minimum of temperature, and end of sleep 6.94 h thereafter, with narrow distributions. The desynchronized subjects had a broad bimodal distribution of sleep onsets (peaks 6.3 and 1.3 h before the minimum); the duration of sleep varied between more than 15 h when sleep began about 10 h before the temperature minimum, and less than 4 h when sleep began several hours after the minimum. The dependence of sleep duration on body temperature is interpreted as a continuing action of the coupling forces between the two rhythms after mutual synchronization is lost.