Skip to main content
  • Submit
  • About
    • Editorial Board
    • PNAS Staff
    • FAQ
    • Rights and Permissions
    • Site Map
  • Contact
  • Journal Club
  • Subscribe
    • Subscription Rates
    • Subscriptions FAQ
    • Open Access
    • Recommend PNAS to Your Librarian
  • Log in
  • My Cart

Main menu

  • Home
  • Articles
    • Current
    • Latest Articles
    • Special Features
    • Colloquia
    • Collected Articles
    • PNAS Classics
    • Archive
  • Front Matter
  • News
    • For the Press
    • Highlights from Latest Articles
    • PNAS in the News
  • Podcasts
  • Authors
    • Information for Authors
    • Purpose and Scope
    • Editorial and Journal Policies
    • Submission Procedures
    • For Reviewers
    • Author FAQ
  • Submit
  • About
    • Editorial Board
    • PNAS Staff
    • FAQ
    • Rights and Permissions
    • Site Map
  • Contact
  • Journal Club
  • Subscribe
    • Subscription Rates
    • Subscriptions FAQ
    • Open Access
    • Recommend PNAS to Your Librarian

User menu

  • Log in
  • My Cart

Search

  • Advanced search
Home
Home

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • Articles
    • Current
    • Latest Articles
    • Special Features
    • Colloquia
    • Collected Articles
    • PNAS Classics
    • Archive
  • Front Matter
  • News
    • For the Press
    • Highlights from Latest Articles
    • PNAS in the News
  • Podcasts
  • Authors
    • Information for Authors
    • Purpose and Scope
    • Editorial and Journal Policies
    • Submission Procedures
    • For Reviewers
    • Author FAQ

New Research In

Physical Sciences

Featured Portals

  • Physics
  • Chemistry
  • Sustainability Science

Articles by Topic

  • Applied Mathematics
  • Applied Physical Sciences
  • Astronomy
  • Computer Sciences
  • Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
  • Engineering
  • Environmental Sciences
  • Mathematics
  • Statistics

Social Sciences

Featured Portals

  • Anthropology
  • Sustainability Science

Articles by Topic

  • Economic Sciences
  • Environmental Sciences
  • Political Sciences
  • Psychological and Cognitive Sciences
  • Social Sciences

Biological Sciences

Featured Portals

  • Sustainability Science

Articles by Topic

  • Agricultural Sciences
  • Anthropology
  • Applied Biological Sciences
  • Biochemistry
  • Biophysics and Computational Biology
  • Cell Biology
  • Developmental Biology
  • Ecology
  • Environmental Sciences
  • Evolution
  • Genetics
  • Immunology and Inflammation
  • Medical Sciences
  • Microbiology
  • Neuroscience
  • Pharmacology
  • Physiology
  • Plant Biology
  • Population Biology
  • Psychological and Cognitive Sciences
  • Sustainability Science
  • Systems Biology

Effect of inducing nocturnal serum melatonin concentrations in daytime on sleep, mood, body temperature, and performance.

A B Dollins, I V Zhdanova, R J Wurtman, H J Lynch, and M H Deng
PNAS March 1, 1994 91 (5) 1824-1828; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.91.5.1824
A B Dollins
Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139.
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
I V Zhdanova
Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139.
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
R J Wurtman
Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139.
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
H J Lynch
Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139.
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
M H Deng
Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139.
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF
Loading

Abstract

We examined effects of very low doses of melatonin (0.1-10 mg, orally) or placebo, administered at 1145 h, on sleep latency and duration, mood, performance, oral temperature, and changes in serum melatonin levels in 20 healthy male volunteers. A repeated-measure double-blind Latin square design was used. Subjects completed a battery of tests designed to assess mood and performance between 0930 and 1730 h. The sedative-like effects of melatonin were assessed by a simple sleep test: at 1330 h subjects were asked to hold a positive pressure switch in each hand and to relax with eyes closed while reclining in a quiet darkened room. Latency and duration of switch release, indicators of sleep, were measured. Areas under the time-melatonin concentration curve varied in proportion to the different melatonin doses ingested, and the 0.1- and 0.3-mg doses generated peak serum melatonin levels that were within the normal range of nocturnal melatonin levels in untreated people. All melatonin doses tested significantly increased sleep duration, as well as self-reported sleepiness and fatigue, relative to placebo. Moreover, all of the doses significantly decreased sleep-onset latency, oral temperature, and the number of correct responses on the Wilkinson auditory vigilance task. These data indicate that orally administered melatonin can be a highly potent hypnotic agent; they also suggest that the physiological increase in serum melatonin levels, which occurs around 2100 h daily, may constitute a signal initiating normal sleep onset.

PreviousNext
Back to top
Article Alerts
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on PNAS.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Effect of inducing nocturnal serum melatonin concentrations in daytime on sleep, mood, body temperature, and performance.
(Your Name) has sent you a message from PNAS
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the PNAS web site.
Citation Tools
Effect of inducing nocturnal serum melatonin concentrations in daytime on sleep, mood, body temperature, and performance.
A B Dollins, I V Zhdanova, R J Wurtman, H J Lynch, M H Deng
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Mar 1994, 91 (5) 1824-1828; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.91.5.1824

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Request Permissions
Share
Effect of inducing nocturnal serum melatonin concentrations in daytime on sleep, mood, body temperature, and performance.
A B Dollins, I V Zhdanova, R J Wurtman, H J Lynch, M H Deng
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Mar 1994, 91 (5) 1824-1828; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.91.5.1824
del.icio.us logo Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo CiteULike logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Mendeley logo Mendeley
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: 116 (7)
Current Issue

Submit

Sign up for Article Alerts

Jump to section

  • Article
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF

You May Also be Interested in

Several aspects of the proposal, which aims to expand open access, require serious discussion and, in some cases, a rethink.
Opinion: “Plan S” falls short for society publishers—and for the researchers they serve
Several aspects of the proposal, which aims to expand open access, require serious discussion and, in some cases, a rethink.
Image credit: Dave Cutler (artist).
Several large or long-lived animals seem strangely resistant to developing cancer. Elucidating the reasons why could lead to promising cancer-fighting strategies in humans.
Core Concept: Solving Peto’s Paradox to better understand cancer
Several large or long-lived animals seem strangely resistant to developing cancer. Elucidating the reasons why could lead to promising cancer-fighting strategies in humans.
Image credit: Shutterstock.com/ronnybas frimages.
Featured Profile
PNAS Profile of NAS member and biochemist Hao Wu
 Nonmonogamous strawberry poison frog (Oophaga pumilio).  Image courtesy of Yusan Yang (University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh).
Putative signature of monogamy
A study suggests a putative gene-expression hallmark common to monogamous male vertebrates of some species, namely cichlid fishes, dendrobatid frogs, passeroid songbirds, common voles, and deer mice, and identifies 24 candidate genes potentially associated with monogamy.
Image courtesy of Yusan Yang (University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh).
Active lifestyles. Image courtesy of Pixabay/MabelAmber.
Meaningful life tied to healthy aging
Physical and social well-being in old age are linked to self-assessments of life worth, and a spectrum of behavioral, economic, health, and social variables may influence whether aging individuals believe they are leading meaningful lives.
Image courtesy of Pixabay/MabelAmber.

More Articles of This Classification

  • Simplified broken Lefschetz fibrations and trisections of 4-manifolds
  • Characterizing Dehn surgeries on links via trisections
  • Generalized trisections in all dimensions
Show more

Related Content

  • No related articles found.
  • Scopus
  • PubMed
  • Google Scholar

Cited by...

  • 60 YEARS OF NEUROENDOCRINOLOGY: Regulation of mammalian neuroendocrine physiology and rhythms by melatonin
  • International Union of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology. LXXV. Nomenclature, Classification, and Pharmacology of G Protein-Coupled Melatonin Receptors
  • Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of iron supplementation in female soldiers during military training: effects on iron status, physical performance, and mood
  • Sleep and Circadian Rhythms in Humans
  • Association of Vegetable Intake with Urinary 6-Sulfatoxymelatonin Level
  • Low melatonin excretion during mechanical ventilation in the intensive care unit
  • Medication for sleep-wake disorders
  • Melatonin Promotes Osteoblast Differentiation and Bone Formation
  • Chick pineal clock regulates serotonin N-acetyltransferase mRNA rhythm in culture
  • Transcriptional control of circadian hormone synthesis via the CREM feedback loop
  • Melatonin
  • Pineal Serotonin N-Acetyltransferase: Expression Cloning and Molecular Analysis
  • Scopus (493)
  • Google Scholar

Similar Articles

Site Logo
Powered by HighWire
  • Submit Manuscript
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • RSS Feeds
  • Email Alerts

Articles

  • Current Issue
  • Latest Articles
  • Archive

PNAS Portals

  • Classics
  • Front Matter
  • Teaching Resources
  • Anthropology
  • Chemistry
  • Physics
  • Sustainability Science

Information

  • Authors
  • Editorial Board
  • Reviewers
  • Press
  • Site Map

Feedback    Privacy/Legal

Copyright © 2019 National Academy of Sciences. Online ISSN 1091-6490