Neuroendocrinology and Sleep

Abstract

It has become clear that the anterior pituitary hormones are secreted in a pulsatile manner, and that their rhythms bear some relationship to sleep. The nature of this relationship varies with the hormone. Some appear to be associated with a specific electroencephalographic stage of sleep, others to the REM-nonREM cycle or the sleep-waking cycle. In some cases, the nature of the relationship varies with age. The association of secretion to sleep may be statistically significant yet account for only a portion of the variance of plasma levels of the hormone. Other influences that may act simultaneously on secretion include an illdefined “biological clock,” the light-dark cycle, and the effect of pulsatile secretion of other hormones.