Dream Recall/Affect and the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis

Athanasios Tselebis; Emmanouil Zoumakis; Ioannis Ilias

doi:10.3390/clockssleep3030027

Dream Recall/Affect and the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis

Clocks Sleep. 2021 Jul 22;3(3):403-408. doi: 10.3390/clockssleep3030027.

Authors

Athanasios Tselebis¹, Emmanouil Zoumakis², Ioannis Ilias³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychiatry, Sotiria Hospital, 115 27 Athens, Greece.
² First Department of Pediatrics, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Medical School, Aghia Sophia Children's Hospital, 115 27 Athens, Greece.
³ Department of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Elena Venizelou Hospital, 115 21 Athens, Greece.

Abstract

In this concise review, we present an overview of research on dream recall/affect and of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, discussing caveats regarding the action of hormones of the HPA axis (mainly cortisol and its free form, cortisol-binding globulin and glucocorticoid receptors). We present results of studies regarding dream recall/affect and the HPA axis under physiological (such as waking) or pathological conditions (such as in Cushing's syndrome or stressful situations). Finally, we try to integrate the effect of the current COVID-19 situation with dream recall/affect vis-à-vis the HPA axis.

Keywords: HPA axis; cortisol; dreams; memory; sleep; stress.

Publication types

Review