William C. Dement

{{Short description|American sleep researcher (1928–2020)}} {{Infobox scientist | name = | native_name = | image =  | image_size = | alt = | caption = |birth_name=William Charles Dement | birth_date = {{Birth date|1928|7|29}} | birth_place = Wenatchee, Washington, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|2020|06|17|1928|7|29}} | death_place = Stanford, California, U.S. | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | other_names = | citizenship = | fields = | workplaces = Stanford University | patrons = | education = University of Chicago | thesis_title =  | thesis_url =  | thesis_year =  | doctoral_advisor =  | academic_advisors = | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | known_for = | influences = | influenced = | spouse =  | partner =  | children = | signature =  | signature_alt = | website =  | footnotes = }}

'''William Charles Dement''' (July 29, 1928 – June 17, 2020) was an American sleep researcher and founder of the Sleep Research Center at Stanford University. He was a leading authority on sleep, sleep deprivation and the diagnosis and treatment of sleep disorders such as sleep apnea and narcolepsy. For this pioneering work in a previously uncharted field in the United States, he is sometimes referred to as the American father of sleep medicine.

==Biography== Dement was born in Wenatchee, Washington, in 1928.<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UidIAAAAYAAJ&q=%22Dement,+William+Charles%22+1928 | title=Who's Who Among Human Services Professionals, 1992-1993| isbn=9780940863477| last1=Friedman| first1=Howard| year=1992| publisher=National Reference Institute}}</ref> In the 1950s, of those who also studied at the University of Chicago<ref>{{YouTube|UWkeI45kbNU |title=A Tribute for William C. Dement}}</ref> he was the first to intensively study the connection between rapid eye movement and dreaming. His fellow student Eugene Aserinsky had mentioned to him that "Dr. Kleitman and I think these eye movements might be related to dreaming".<ref name="Promise"/> Aserinsky, along with his and Dement's adviser Nathaniel Kleitman, had previously noticed the connection but hadn't considered it very interesting. Dement had an interest in psychiatry, which in those days considered dreams to be important, so he was excited by the discovery and was eager to pursue it. From the University of Chicago, he received an MD in 1955 and a PhD in neurophysiology in 1957 for the thesis ''Rapid eye movements during sleep in schizophrenics and non-schizophrenics and their relation to dream recall'' supervised by Kleitman.<ref>{{cite web |title=William Dement |url=https://www.mathgenealogy.org/id.php?id=117842 |website=Mathematics Genealogy Project |access-date=1 January 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Dement, sleep medicine pioneer, dies at 91 |journal=NIH Record |date=2020 |volume=LXXII |issue=17 |page=11 |url=https://nihrecord.nih.gov/2020/08/21/dement-sleep-medicine-pioneer-dies-91 |access-date=1 January 2023}}</ref>

He began his work in sleep deprivation at Mount Sinai Hospital in the late 1950s – the early 1960s. In 1964, he monitored and assisted Randy Gardner's successful attempt to break the record for longest time without sleep. He was among the first researchers to study sleeping subjects with the electroencephalogram (EEG), and he wrote "I believe that the study of sleep became a true scientific field in 1953, when I finally was able to make all-night, continuous recordings of brain and eye activity during sleep." Studying these recordings, he discovered and named the five stages of sleep.<ref name=Promise>{{cite book|last1=Dement |first1=William C.|first2=Christopher |last2=Vaughan |title=The Promise of Sleep: A Pioneer in Sleep Medicine Explores the Vital Connection Between Health, Happiness, and a Good Night's Sleep |publisher=Dell Trade Paperbacks |isbn=978-0-440-50901-1 |year=1999}} pp. 35-38.</ref> In collaboration with Dr. Christian Guilleminault, Dement proposed the measure that is still used for the clinical definition of sleep apnea and the rating of its severity, the Apnea Hypopnea Index (AHI).<ref name="Promise 2">{{cite book|author1=Dement, William C. |author2=Christopher Vaughan |title=The Promise of Sleep: A Pioneer in Sleep Medicine Explores the Vital Connection Between Health, Happiness, and a Good Night's Sleep |publisher=Dell Trade Paperbacks |isbn=978-0-440-50901-1 |year=1999}} pp. 174.</ref>

Dement, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine, taught the large and popular "Sleep and Dreams" course at Stanford, which started in 1971.

In 1975 he launched the American Sleep Disorders Association, now known as the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, and served as president for its first twelve years. In that same year he and Mary Carskadon invented the Multiple Sleep Latency Test used to measure sleepiness, a test of how quickly people fall asleep, sleep onset latency, during several daytime opportunities. He later was inducted to the Hall of Fame of the American Sleep and Breathing Academy (ASBA), and he gave his last conference lecture to healthcare professionals at the 2016 Annual Session of ASBA.

He was also chairman of the National Commission on Sleep Disorders Research, whose final report led directly to the creation of a new agency within the National Institutes of Health, the National Center on Sleep Disorders Research.

Dement was the author of ''The Promise of Sleep''<ref name=Promise/> and ''The Sleepwatchers'', and wrote the first undergraduate textbook in the field.{{Citation needed|date=January 2008}} ''The Promise of Sleep'' was featured in the 2012 independent comedy film Sleepwalk with Me, and Dement also made a cameo appearance in the film.

According to Robert Van de Castle, Dement was a heavy smoker who gave up the habit after dreaming he had lung cancer. Castle quotes Dement's book ''Some must watch while some must sleep'', published in 1974, in which the author recounts a dream in which an X-ray of his chest, showed he had extensive lung cancer. In the dream, the cancer diagnosis was confirmed by a fellow doctor who conducted a physical examination. Dement experienced deep anguish in the dream, knowing that he would die, never to see his children grow up. On waking, however, he felt a sense of joy and relief that he could now alter the direction of his life. He immediately gave up smoking.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Van de Castle |first=Robert |title=Our dreaming mind |date=1994 |publisher=Ballantine |isbn=1 85538 070 6 |location=New York |pages=373}}</ref>

At the start of his academic career, he was a jazz musician and played bass. While at the University of Washington, he played with Quincy Jones, a time during which he also befriended Ray Charles. During the late 1980s, while at Stanford, he was known to have played, on at least one occasion, with artist-in-residence, Stan Getz.<ref name="Promise 3">{{cite book|author1=Dement, William C. |author2=Christopher Vaughan |title= The Promise of Sleep: A Pioneer in Sleep Medicine Explores the Vital Connection Between Health, Happiness, and a Good Night's Sleep |publisher=Dell Trade Paperbacks |isbn=978-0-440-50901-1 |year=1999}} pp. 239.</ref>

He lived with his family in northern California. Dement died in Stanford, California, on June 17, 2020, from cardiovascular disease at the age of 91.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2020/06/william-dement-giant-in-field-of-sleep-medicine-dies-at-91.html |title=William Dement, giant in sleep medicine, dies at 91 |publisher=Med.stanford.edu |date= |accessdate=2022-02-10}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/william-dement-psychiatrist-known-as-the-father-of-sleep-medicine-dies-at-91/2020/06/22/ca70e21a-b3c8-11ea-a510-55bf26485c93_story.html#:~:text=Dr.%20Dement%20was%2091%20when,said%20his%20son%2C%20Nick%20Dement |title=William Dement, known as 'the father of sleep medicine,' dies at 91 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=2020-06-22 |accessdate=2022-02-10}}</ref>

==Selected publications== *{{Cite journal | last1 = Dement | first1 = W | last2 = Kleitman | first2 = N | doi = 10.1037/h0048189 | title = The relation of eye movements during sleep to dream activity: An objective method for the study of dreaming | journal = Journal of Experimental Psychology | volume = 53 | issue = 5 | pages = 339–346 | year = 1957 | pmid = 13428941 | citeseerx = 10.1.1.308.6874 }} *{{Cite journal | last1 = Dement | first1 = W | last2 = Kleitman | first2 = N | doi = 10.1016/0013-4694(57)90088-3 | title = Cyclic variations in EEG during sleep and their relation to eye movements, body motility, and dreaming | journal = Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology | volume = 9 | issue = 4 | pages = 673–690 | year = 1957 | pmid = 13480240 }} *{{Cite journal | last1 = Dement | first1 = W | title = The effect of dream deprivation | doi = 10.1126/science.131.3415.1705 | journal = Science | volume = 131 | issue = 3415 | pages = 1705–1707 | year = 1960 | pmid = 13815805 | bibcode = 1960Sci...131.1705D }} *{{Cite journal | last1 = Roffwarg | first1 = HP | last2 = Muzio | first2 = JN | last3 = Dement | first3 = WC | doi = 10.1126/science.152.3722.604 | title = Ontogenetic development of the human sleep-dream cycle | journal = Science | volume = 152 | issue = 3722 | pages = 604–619 | year = 1966 | pmid = 17779492 | bibcode = 1966Sci...152..604R }} *{{cite book | last = Dement | first = William C | title = Some must watch while some must sleep | publisher = W.H. Freeman | location = San Francisco | year = 1974 | isbn = 978-0-7167-0769-1 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/somemustwatchwhi0000deme }} * {{Cite journal | last1 = Guilleminault | first1 = C | last2 = Tilkian | first2 = A | last3 = Dement | first3 = WC | title = The sleep apnea syndromes | doi = 10.1146/annurev.me.27.020176.002341 | journal = Annual Review of Medicine | volume = 27 | pages = 465–484 | year = 1976 | pmid = 180875 }} * {{Cite journal | last1 = Carskadon | first1 = MA | last2 = Dement | first2 = WC | last3 = Mitler | first3 = MM | last4 = Roth | first4 = T | last5 = Westbrook | first5 = PR | last6 = Keenan | first6 = S | title = Guidelines for the multiple sleep latency test (MSLT): a standard measure of sleepiness. | journal = Sleep | volume = 9 | issue = 4 | pages = 519–24 | year = 1986 | doi = 10.1093/sleep/9.4.519| pmid = 3809866 | doi-access = free }} *{{cite book | last = Dement | first = William C | title = The sleepwatchers | publisher = Stanford Alumni Association | location = Stanford, CA | year = 1992 | isbn = 978-0-916318-48-2 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/sleepwatchers00deme }} *{{cite book | last1 = Dement | first1 = William C | last2 = Vaughan | first2 = Christopher |title = The promise of sleep: a pioneer in sleep medicine explores the vital connection between health, happiness, and a good night's sleep | publisher = Delacorte Press | location = New York | year = 1999 | isbn = 978-0-385-32008-5 }} *{{Cite journal | last1 = Dement | first1 = WC | title = Sleep extension: getting as much extra sleep as possible | doi = 10.1016/j.csm.2004.12.014 | journal = Clinics in Sports Medicine | volume = 24 | issue = 2 | pages = 251–268, viii | year = 2005 | pmid = 15892922 }} *{{cite book | last1 = Kryger| first1 = Meir H| last2 = Roth | first2 = Thomas | last3 = Dement | first3 = William C | title = Principles and practice of sleep medicine | publisher = Saunders/Elsevier | location = Philadelphia, PA | edition = 5th | year = 2011 | isbn = 978-1-4160-6645-3 }}

==See also== *Sleep *Sleep disorder *Sleep onset latency

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *{{cite web |title=William C. Dement |url=http://med.stanford.edu/profiles/William_Dement/ |website=Stanford School of Medicine |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150408014715/https://med.stanford.edu/profiles/William_Dement/ |archive-date=8 April 2015 |url-status=dead}} *{{cite web |last1=Dement |first1=William C. |title=The Sleep Well |url=https://web.stanford.edu/~dement/ |access-date=30 December 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201021215330/https://web.stanford.edu/~dement/ |archive-date=21 October 2020 |url-status=dead}} *{{cite web |url=http://www.sleepquest.com/about/dr-dement/ |title=about Dr Dement |website=Sleep Quest}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dement, William C.}} Category:1928 births Category:2020 deaths Category:Sleep researchers Category:Stanford University School of Medicine faculty Category:University of Washington alumni Category:University of Chicago alumni Category:American psychiatrists Category:People from Wenatchee, Washington Category:Medical doctors from Washington (state) Category:20th-century American medical doctors Category:21st-century American medical doctors Category:Members of the National Academy of Medicine Category:Delta Upsilon members