PULLMAN, Wash. — While most sleep researchers study narcolepsy, apnea or insomnia, Gregory Belenky, M.D., director of Washington State University Spokane’s Sleep and Performance Research Initiative, examines the “normals”the people with no known sleep disorder who make up the vast majority of the population. The WSU institute is one of only four research centers in the nation that studies this group of people.
“Normals” could include a combat-weary tank driver in wartime trying to distinguish allies from the enemy, sleepy pilots flying from New York to San Francisco or a lethargic semitruck driver transporting a load of flammable material.
“Understanding Sleep in a 24/7 Society” will be the topic of the Sept. 30 presentation at the Rainier Club, 820 4th Ave., in downtown Seattle and the first of three discussions in The Innovators lecture series. Tickets are $40 per person and include lunch from noon to 1:30 p.m. To register online, visit https://www.wsu.edu/theinnovators/. Registration will continue until capacity is reached.
Belenky leads studies that investigate how sleep restriction affects the performance of professionals in high-stress jobs with long hours and irregular schedules, including police officers and first-year doctors. His studies will help determine the true impact of sleep restriction on performance and subsequent recovery.
The groundbreaking research of Belenky and his colleagues has the potential to change the way society views and manages sleep and how it treats this critical performance resource.
Much of Belenky’s pioneering research was conducted during his years in the U.S. Army Medical Corps, where he served as director of the Division of Neuroscience at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. His research has led the U.S. Army to change the way it now trains and deploys soldiers to the field.
Belenky earned a medical degree from Stanford University School of Medicine. While in medical school, he worked in the laboratory of Dr. William Dement, the “father of sleep research.”
For more information on Belenky and his research or future series lectures, visit The Innovators Web site at https://www.wsu.edu/theinnovators/.
