Effects of change in residence to a mountain village on children’s melatonin responses

ABSTRACT

Sleep problems are especially serious in Japan. The purpose of the present study was to clarify the effects of a shift of residence to a mountain village on children’s melatonin responses. The participants were 19 children (nine males and ten females, 10–15 years old) who participated in the Mountain Village Educational Program. After excluding a girl with confirmed deficits, the data of 18 participants were used for analysis. We measured salivary melatonin concentration and assessed the self-completed questionnaire survey on sleep situation. Although the proportion of people who showed a greater salivary melatonin concentration at night than in the morning immediately after starting the Mountain Village Educational Program was 50%, after that it was shown that melatonin concentration increased at night and decreased in the morning. The results demonstrated that all participants showed a salivary melatonin secretion pattern of night > morning after approximately 3.5 months. Based on these findings, the Mountain Village Educational Program, which involves a shift of residence to a mountain village, has the potential to improve children’s sleep.

Abbreviations: DLMO: Dim light melatonin onset; MVEP: Mountain Village Educational Program

KEYWORDS:

• School student
• living environment
• sleep problem
• sleep hormone
• morning-evening type

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the children and staffs who participated in this study for their cooperation and understanding.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Authors’ contributions

SN contributed to the study design and drafted the manuscript. AS contributed to the data analysis. NY, RT, and KT conducted the experimental work. HT contacted subjects and their guardians. SN, AS, NY, RT, KT, and HT have approved the final manuscript.

Declarations

Consent for publication

All participants provided written consent for publication.

Availability of data and material

The individual raw data will not available because of the ethics policy.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by an internal grant from Nippon Sport Science University, Japan.