Government and Regulations

Service Members: It’s OK to Get Some Sleep

A sleep deficiency workshop has been created in hopes of relieving service members of some health issues associated with lack of rest.


 

Getting the right amount of sleep can be hard for service members, but sleep issues have been a priority for Lieutenant General Patricia Horoho, Surgeon General of the Army, who decided in 2011 to focus on the Performance Triad of health: sleep, activity, and nutrition. Now, the Office of Naval Research is also tackling the problem, starting with a recent workshop, “The Restorative Effects of Sleep,” to cover current research and the impact of sleep deprivation on military personnel.

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The workshop committee is assessing the efficacy of existing treatments for sleep deficiency and operational and training programs for encouraging healthy sleep habits, with the aim of establishing servicewide guidelines on best practices.

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Workshop speakers included Charles Czeisler, PhD, MD, professor of sleep medicine at Harvard Medical School, and David Dinges, PhD, chief of the Division of Sleep and Chronobiology, University of Pennsylvania. “You have military people who are working 18-hour shifts or participating in night operations and training exercises lasting for hours,” Dr. Czeisler said. “Such a lack of sleep is harmful. We must emphasize how crucial sleep is to health and performance.”

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Sleep deficiency has been linked to health issues, including depression, heart attack, and traumatic brain injury. But in an interview with Health.mil, David J. Smith, MD, deputy assistant secretary of defense for Health Affairs, Health Readiness Policy and Oversight, said service members often believe that running on little or no sleep is a “sign of being tough and giving 100 percent.” That view, he adds, “stigmatizes those who don’t work themselves to the point of sleep deficiency as lazy or unmotivated.”

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