William Dement
Professor of psychiatry who carried out groundbreaking research on REM sleep and dreaming
DR WILLIAM DEMENT, who has died aged 91, was one of the world’s leading authorities on sleep and a pioneer in the field of “rapid eye movement” (REM) research: what happens to our bodies and brains during the phase of sleep most commonly associated with dreaming.
When Dement was starting his career in the 1950s, only a handful of scientists were interested in the involuntary movements – the twitching eyelids, the nuzzling mouth action – produced by sleeping children.
Among the most influential researchers was Eugene Aserinsky from the University of Chicago, who used electrodes to monitor the brainwaves of his eight-year-old son. He found that, for a period during the night, these brainwaves indicated a state of wakefulness – even though, to all outward appearances, the boy was still asleep.
Aserinsky and a colleague published their observations in 1953. Four years later they were joined by Dement, then a new Chicago graduate who was primarily interested in the relationship between REM and the sleeper’s dreams.
Working with Professor Nathaniel Kleitman, Dement began waking trial participants during different phases of sleep and asking them about their dreams. Using an electroencephalograph (EEG) to monitor brainwave patterns, the researchers found a correlation between REM sleep and the ability to recall what a dream had been about. They also observed that people’s bodies became still when they were dreaming. Even though they might have dreamt of running, jumping or falling, the parts of the brain associated with these actions remained dormant.
In 1970 Dement opened the Sleep Disorders Clinic at Stanford University, California, where he was a professor of psychiatry. He began recruiting children and college students for “summer sleep camps”. Over four days, the participants were asked to nap for two hours at a time. Upon waking, they would have their cognitive skills assessed, and when the four days were up a new (well-rested) cohort would arrive.
The data showed that the effects of sleep loss accumulate over time – and that losing as little as an hour’s sleep a night could have a long-term impact. The project also had far-reaching consequences for those suffering from sleep apnoea, who stop breathing while asleep and wake up frequently – with the result that they feel extremely tired during the day. Dement found that, left untreated, sleep apnoea brought with it a risk of health problems including heart disease and stroke.
Always a quirky and popular lecturer, Bill Dement sought to ram home his message about the vital importance of sleep to attendees of his undergraduate sleep class at Stanford. A “sleeping section” of the room was set aside for those in need of a nap. However, anyone caught dozing elsewhere during lectures would be woken by a squirt from a water pistol that Dement kept handy. The student would then be made to recite the mantra: “Drowsiness is red alert!”
William Charles Dement was born in Wenatchee, Washington, son of Charles and Kathryn Dement, on July 29 1928. William grew up in the county city of Walla Walla, and by the close of the Second World War he was serving in the army, editing a regimental newspaper during his time in Japan.
He part-funded his studies at the University of Washington by playing bass in various jazz bands, and by hosting gigs on his houseboat. Having obtained his medical degree from the University of Chicago in 1955, he joined Nathaniel Kleitman’s human sleep studies. Early observations were hampered by the fact that Kleitman – “a little prudish”, as Dement recalled – was reluctant to let his protégé study sleeping women. (The problem was eventually solved by hiring a night-time chaperone.)
But there was no shortage of young people prepared to have their body clocks and endurance levels put to the test. In 1964, having arrived at Stanford the year before, Dement monitored Randy Gardner, 17, who stayed awake for 11 days and 25 minutes, fuelled by the occasional can of Coke. After a 14-hour night at a military hospital, during which his brainwaves were monitored, the teenager “got up and went to high school”, Dement recalled; the experiment, which garnered nationwide news coverage, was “amazing” for all involved.
Dement went on to write the first authoritative medical textbook on sleep, Principles and Practices of Sleep Medicine (1989). He was president – for 12 years – of the American Sleep Disorders Association, and an innovative teacher for more than 30 years. The frequently exhausting nature of his research failed to put a dent in Dement’s whimsical sense of humour. “Dreaming,” he was fond of remarking, “permits each and every one of us to be quietly and safely insane every night of our lives.”
With his wife Eleanor (née Weber), William Dement had three children. She predeceased him in 2014.
Dr William Dement, born July 29 1928, died June 17 2020