Cumulative impact of low calorie intake and sleep deficit in combat

[carl]

This is, admittedly, anecdotal, but my experience was that our routines were necessarily so random that it was impossible to develop a rhythm. Most of the time, when I stepped outside of the windowless CP of our patrol base, I wasn't sure whether to expect to see daylight or darkness unless I had just checked my watch. I've also never been awake for two days and then thought, "gee I should get some sleep, but who can fall asleep while the sun's up?"

I get what you're saying, but I'm not sure it's applicable in an environment where schedules are so erratic.

That is where quality of sleep comes in. With an erratic sked, people can sleep some when they get the chance, but often not too long and not too well. It is something that in the situations you guys were in is a devilishly difficult problem. But it is something people should think about and do what they can to mitigate when they can.

It is a very big thing in aviation. Maybe that is because decreases in levels of performance are easier to detect and measure, and the people who pay the bills get upset if their machines get broken. When the Air Force was running the F-117s they used to go to extraordinary lengths to keep their people's skeds conducive to good sleep.

Aviation has taken a long time to get to this point however. In the past it was marked by the macho attitude that Reed mentioned in relation to Ranger school. Interestingly enough, that same macho attitude used to prevail (it may still, I don't know) in medicine when it came to interns and residents. 24 hours on, if you could catch some sleep great, if not tough. If a horrible case came in at hour 23.5 of a sleepless day, tough luck again. It's yours buddy. That is something to think about when the next time you go to the ER.

[Uboat509]

As has been noted, how much sleep an individual needs is very personal and it may be that the General only needs 4-5 hours of sleep at night to function. That said, many studies have shown that the average person needs at least 7 hours of sleep in a 24 hour period to maintain max effectiveness. We have all learned that we can perform with less sleep for a time, and how much less sleep and for how long is, again, very personal. When I was in Iraq for OIF V, I was working eighteen hour days, seven days a week. I made it a month like that before I realized that I just couldn't function like that any more. That means that my performance was probably sub-standard for at least a week before that.

The military has a number of myths about sleep that refuse to die out no matter how much research debunks these myths. The first, and my personal favorite, is the idea that you can train your body to need less sleep. Now, it is true that if you are fit and healthy then you will need less sleep than when you are sick or out of shape, but that only goes to a point. I have had many leaders who honestly believed that if you intentionally deprive yourself of sleep then eventually you will need less. After eighteen years of active federal service I have never trained my body to need less sleep. And yet, the myth refuses to die. Another myth is the idea that nicotine can keep you awake. Nicotine has no stimulant properties. It is a vaso-constrictor which can lead to a slight rise in heart rate and blood pressure but it does not do anything to ward off sleep. Any stimulant effects are largely psychological. And yet this myth also refuses to die.

SFC W