CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 227Circadian rhythm and melatoninSleep and Work-Related FatigueSleep and Wakefulness Research

A relationship between heat loss and sleepiness: effects of postural change and melatonin administration

Kräuchi, Kurt, Cajochen, Christian, Wirz-Justice, Anna·1997·Journal of Applied Physiology
DOI 10.1152/jappl.1997.83.1.134
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

Kräuchi, Kurt, Christian Cajochen, and Anna Wirz-Justice. A relationship between heat loss and sleepiness: effects of postural change and melatonin administration. J. Appl. Physiol. 83(1): 134–139, 1997.—Both the pineal hormone melatonin (Mel) and postural changes have thermoregulatory sequelae. The purpose of the study was to evaluate their relationship to subjective sleepiness. Eight healthy young men were investigated under the unmasking conditions of a constant routine protocol. Heart rate, rectal temperature (T re), skin temperatures (foot, T fo; and stomach), and subjective sleepiness ratings were continuously recorded from 1000 to 1700. Mel (5 mg po) was administered at 1300, a time when Mel should not phase shift the circadian system. Both the postural change at 1000 from upright to a supine position (lying down in bed) and Mel administration at 1300 reduced T re and increased T fo in parallel with increased sleepiness. These findings suggest that under comfortable ambient temperature conditions, heat loss via the distal skin regions (e.g., feet) is a key mechanism for induction of sleepiness as core body temperature declines.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1152/jappl.1997.83.1.134

Cites

25 of 25 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Being in a supine position is a sleep-permissive condition, whereas being upright is a wake-promoting condition.

    “Being in a supine position is being in a sleep-permissive condition, whereas being upright is being in a wake-promoting condition [2, 13, 14, 18, 49, 62].”

    From Sleep, vigilance, and thermosensitivity (2012) · cites this paper as [49]

  • Sleep onset and maintenance depend on sleep-permissive and wake-promoting conditions such as posture.

    “In real life, sleep onset and maintenance also depend on whether some seemingly trivial yet crucial conditions are met, like having attained an appropriate posture.”

    From Sleep, vigilance, and thermosensitivity (2012) · cites this paper as [49]

  • It has been proposed that the gradient between temperatures measured at a distal and a proximal site correlates most strongly with measures of vigilance.

    “Based on these controlled studies, it has been proposed that it may especially be the gradient between the temperatures measured at a distal and a proximal site that correlates most strongly with measures of vigilance [46–49].”

    From Sleep, vigilance, and thermosensitivity (2012) · cites this paper as [49]

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Kräuchi, K., Cajochen, C., & Wirz-Justice, A.
Affiliations
  • Universitäre Psychiatrische Kliniken Basel (CH)
  • Chronobiology and Sleep Laboratory, Psychiatric University Clinic, CH-4025 Basel, Switzerland
ORCID
Cajochen, Christian
Venue
Journal of Applied Physiology
Publisher
American Physiological Society
Published
1997-07-01
Volume
83
Issue
1
Pages
134-139
ISSN
  • 0161-7567 (ISSN-L)
  • 8750-7587
  • 1522-1601
DOI
10.1152/jappl.1997.83.1.134
OpenAlex
W2129551234
Cited by
227
References
25
Citations by year
2026: 6 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 19 · 2012: 8
FWCI
2.29
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Journal of Applied Physiology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Endocrine and Autonomic Systems › Circadian rhythm and melatonin
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Sleep and Work-Related Fatigue
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Sleep and Wakefulness Research
Keywords
heat loss, sleepiness, melatonin, postural changes, thermoregulation, core body temperature, skin temperature, supine position, subjective sleepiness, circadian rhythm, constant routine
MeSH terms
Adult, Body Temperature, Body Temperature Regulation, Double-Blind Method, Electrocardiography, Heart Rate, Humans, Male, Melatonin, Posture, Saliva, Skin Temperature, Sleep Stages, Cross-Over Studies

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review