Increased urinary excretion of triiodothyronine (T3) and thyroxine (T4) and decreased serum thyreotropic hormone (TSH) induced by motion sickness.

We exposed 35 male subjects to a rotary chair and motion sickness was provoked by Coriolis effect. This stress caused an increased excretion of urinary T3 and T4 and a decrease of TSH levels in serum. The increment in urinary excretion of thyroid hormones may serve as a very useful measure for the quantitation of physical stress. Although no statistically significant change of T3, T4, and TBG levels in serum could be observed by the employed techniques, the hypothesis is favoured that motion sickness probably causes an immeasurably small increase of the free thyroid hormone fraction in serum, thereby increasing urinary excretion of T3 and T4 and, in turn, decreasing TSH secretion. Physical or psychological stress situations involve most of the endocrine systems. Contadictory results have been reported in the literature concerning the relationship between thyroid function and stress.