While awakening, we usually have an increase in cortisol level, a steroid hormone produced by the adrenal gland and released in response to stress. A team of UK researchers reported that adolescent boys with Asperger syndrome do not report increase in cortisol level, which can explain some of the symptoms of the condition.
The article was published in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology. The team told that the ability to adapt to changes is controlled by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, which controls increase of cortisol while awakening and this is referred as “the cortisol awakening response.”
Dr. Mark Brosnan from University of Bath and his colleagues said that the cortisol awakening response was a robust and reproducible neuroendocrine phenomenon which had been positively correlated with psychological and physical well-being. They also added that the study focused mainly on the lack of response in individuals with Asperger syndrome. This study’s findings might help in solving problems, like why such people face difficulties when even a minor change occur in their routine or environment.
From Reuters:
Upon awakening, there is normally a surge in cortisol, a steroid hormone produced by the adrenal gland and released in response to stress. Now, UK researchers report that this response is absent in adolescent boys with Asperger syndrome, which may explain some of the symptoms of the condition, such as the need for routine and resistance to change.
Among other functions, the ability to adapt to change is controlled by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, which controls the dramatic increase in cortisol upon awakening, referred to as “the cortisol awakening response,” the study team explains in an article in press in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology.
“The cortisol awakening response is a robust and reproducible neuroendocrine phenomenon which has been positively correlated with psychological and physical well-being,” they add.
In the study, the team measured cortisol amount in saliva of 20 adolescent males with Asperger syndrome and in 18 males with normal control at the time of awakening and 30 minutes later. The second group showed a noteworthy cortisol awakening response in comparison to Asperger group in which the response was completely absent.
Brosnan and colleagues, therefore, write in the article that Asperger syndrome, at least in adolescent males, could be characterized by an impaired cortisol awakening response. However, they also added that further research would be required to address this “interesting phenomenon”.
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