A possible connection between psychosomatic symptoms and daily rhythmicity in growth hormone secretion in healthy Japanese students

BACKGROUND: Students suffering from psychosomatic symptoms, including drowsiness and feelings of melancholy, often have basic lifestyle problems. The aim of this study was to investigate whether psychosomatic complaints may be related to circadian dysfunction. METHODS: We examined 15 healthy students (4 men and 11 women) between 21 and 22 years old. To assess the presence of psychosomatic symptoms among the subjects, we developed a self-assessment psychosomatic complaints questionnaire consisting of five items pertaining to physical symptoms and five items concerning mental symptoms. The subjects rated their psychosomatic symptoms twice a day (08:00 and 20:00 h). We also assessed growth hormone secretion patterns by fluorescence enzyme immunoassay (FEIA). Salivary samples were collected from the subjects at home five times a day (20:00, 24:00, 04:00, 08:00, and 12:00 h) in Salivette tubes. RESULTS: The results indicated a relationship between the self-assessment scores and the salivary levels of growth hormone. Subjects with high self-assessment scores showed significant variability in growth hormone secretion over the day, whereas subjects with low self-assessment scores did not. CONCLUSION: Psychosomatic symptoms may be associated with circadian dysfunction, as inferred from blunted rhythmicity in growth hormone secretion.