Chronobiological aspects of sleep disorders in menopausal women: the role of melatonin (literature review)

Abstract

The aim of this review is analyze the literature data on the role of the circadian system key element - melatonin in the regulation of the sleep-wake cycle in menopausal women. It is shown that the melatonin level defined in a variety of biological fluids (blood, saliva, urine) depends on age, sex, race, and chronotype. It is detected that morning melatonin can be used as a biological marker for determining human chronotype. Most studies indicate that melatonin decreases with age, and that in women this hormone level is lower than in men. For sleep disorders, lower values of melatonin are revealed, although the results of the studies are ambiguous. Also, the studies show the shift of hormone secretion peaks in the early morning hours. The dependence of circadian rhythm of melatonin secretion on the climacteric phase has been revealed. This determines different approaches to the therapy of sleep disorders. It is extremely important to study the role of melatonin as an adaptogen of the female reproductive system because climacteric syndrome is the realization of a violation of the adaptation of the woman's organism in conditions requiring increased activity of the adaptive system of the body and sleep disorders are common in menopausal women.

Keywords

• circadian rhythms
• melatonin
• menopause
• sleep disorders