The distinctive characteristics of REM sleep and dreams in narcolepsy

This chapter provides an overview of this topic, encompassing the potential role of abnormal REM sleep in the pathophysiology of narcolepsy, the dream features, and the recent electrophysiological and neuroimaging findings. We aimed to describe the peculiar dream activity in these patients, underlining that they may help a better understanding of narcolepsy. Finally, studies on lucid dreaming and nightmares in narcolepsy were reviewed to provide new insights about treatment approaches that may affect REM sleep and oneiric contents in patients with narcolepsy.