ABSTRACT
Nathaniel Kleitman introspective experience of the sleep deprivation experience indicated that a greater likelihood of delusional thoughts was a distinct possibility of prolonged insomnia. His book Sleep and Wakefulness not only laid the foundation for establishing the study of sleep as a laboratory-based discipline but also helped raise awareness of circadian rhythmicity as an important public health issue. One of the great unsolved mysteries of sleep research at the time of Sleep and Wakefulness was whether the 24-hour circadian human sleep-wake rhythm is learned through habit or whether people had an internal hard-wired body clock. He decided to measure eye lid movements using the electrooculogram and brain waves from the scalp with the electroencephalogram. Kleitman is best known for his co-discovery of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, which he made in 1953 with his PhD student Eugene Aserinsky. Some people express surprise at Aserinsky and Kleitman's discovery – not least because it seems obvious that REMs are associated with dreaming.
