Sleep and activity rhythms are related to circadian phase in the blind.

STUDY OBJECTIVES

Sleep is controlled by both circadian and homeostatic mechanisms. As the light-dark cycle is the most important time cue in humans, blind individuals may have circadian rhythm disorders including sleep. The aim of the study was to assess sleep with simultaneous measurement of an endogenous marker of the circadian clock, namely 6-sulphatoxymelatonin (aMT6s).

SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS

59 registered blind subjects were studied in their own homes.

DESIGN

Subjects completed daily sleep and nap diaries for at least four weeks, wore activity monitors continuously, and collected urine samples over 48 hours each week for 3-5 weeks for assessment of aMT6s rhythms.

RESULTS

The most sensitive indicator of a circadian rhythm disorder was day-time napping. Subjects with normally entrained (NE) aMT6s rhythms had fewer naps of a shorter duration than abnormally entrained (AE) or free-running (FR) subjects. The timing of these naps was not random; significantly more naps occurred within a five-hour range before and after the aMT6s acrophase (phi (phi)) than outside this range. Disorders in the timing and duration of night sleep in AE subjects manifested as either a permanent advance (advanced sleep phase syndrome, ASPS) or delay (delayed sleep phase syndrome, DSPS). In FR subjects there were transient advances and delays in sleep timing that paralleled aMT6s timing with increased night sleep duration and reduced number and duration of day-time naps associated with a normal aMT6s phase.

CONCLUSIONS

Changes in sleep and activity rhythms reflect changes in circadian phase.