Variations in thyroid function and sleep in healthy young men

1. The total serum thyroxine, tri-iodothyronine resin uptake, total plasma protein concentration and the free thyroxine index (FTI) were determined repeatedly, at 07.15, 13.00 and 22.30 hours over 4 days, in six healthy young men. 2. There was a significant diurnal variation in the total serum thyroxine concentration but this reflected changes in the binding capacity of serum proteins and in the total plasma protein concentration which could be explained by changes of posture. The FTI, and presumably therefore the free thyroxine concentration, varied very little with the time of day. 3. The FTI varied significantly from day to day in three of the six subjects, presumably as a result of changes in thyroxine secretion because the serum binding capacity did not vary. 4. The subjects' sleep at night was assessed by electro-encephalogram. In days when the FTI was highest for a particular subject his sleep was more fragmented by spontaneous awakenings, the amount of rapid-eye-movement sleep was reduced and that of delta-wave sleep was increased, implying that variations in thyroid function over a period of a few days in healthy subjects can be of physiological significance. The cause of these variations is uncertain.