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Acute Effect of a Glucocorticoid on Normal Human Sleep

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Abstract

ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHIC studies of sleep suggest that the magnitude of sleep disturbances in depressed and schizophrenic subjects varies with the degree of psychic turmoil1–6. Psychoendocrine studies of psychiatric patients have suggested that adrenal cortical steroid excretion is elevated with subjective distress7–13. Some endocrine studies have shown that nocturnal secretion of adrenal cortical steroids is elevated at least part of the time in psychiatric patients14–17. We have undertaken to determine the effect of a glucocorticoid on normal human sleep.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland

    J. CHRISTIAN GILLIN, LEONARD S. JACOBS, DAVID H. FRAM & FREDERICK SNYDER

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  1. J. CHRISTIAN GILLIN
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  2. LEONARD S. JACOBS
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  3. DAVID H. FRAM
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  4. FREDERICK SNYDER
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GILLIN, J., JACOBS, L., FRAM, D. et al. Acute Effect of a Glucocorticoid on Normal Human Sleep. Nature 237, 398–399 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1038/237398a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/237398a0

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