Menstrual changes in sleep, rectal temperature and melatonin rhythms in a subject with premenstrual syndrome

We studied a sighted woman with premenstrual syndrome who showed menstrual changes in circadian rhythms. She showed alternative phase shifts in the sleep rhythm in the menstrual cycle: progressive phase advances in the follicular phase and phase delays in the luteal phase. Rectal temperature rhythm also showed similar menstrual changes, but the phase advance and delay started a few days earlier than changes in sleep-wake rhythm so that the two rhythms were dissociated around ovulation and menstruation. These results suggest that her circadian rhythms in sleep and temperature are under the control of ovarian steroid hormones and that these two rhythms have different sensitivity to the hormones.