Sleep and Puberty.

In the 1970's, Boyar and colleagues made the seminal observation that during the early stages of puberty, there is a sleep-specific augmentation of pulsatile luteinizing hormone (LH) secretion. Building on this tantalizing association between sleep and the re-awakening of the neuro-reproductive axis, a number of investigators have since mapped the dynamic relationship between sleep and reproductive hormones across the pubertal transition. In this review, we focus on the complex, reciprocal relationship between sleep and reproductive hormones during adolescence as well as the potential effects of melatonin and orexin on gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) activity in children with chronic insomnia and narcolepsy, respectively. Given the important interaction between the reproductive and somatotropic axes during puberty, we end with a discussion of sleep and growth hormone (GH) secretion in children.