SLEEP MANAGEMENT
Fight Fatigue By Dr. Camila Almeida Consortium for Health and Military Performance (CHAMP) Human Performance Resources by CHAMP (HPRC)
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emotions on decision-making or behavior. • Sleep helps restore cortisol, a stress hormone, back to its baseline level Cortisol can increase in response to Sleep supports performance across all various stressors to support performance, domains of Total Force Fitness (TFF), boost energy and sharpen focus. But sleep an approach to human performance deprivation can lead to chronically high optimization (HPO) that encompasses cortisol levels, which can hurt your health physical, mental, social, nutritional, spiritual, medical, financial and environmental fitness. and performance. In the same way, sleep deprivation can hurt • Sleep also supports and refreshes three components of cognitive performance: your overall performance and decrease your working memory, attention and alertness. military readiness and safety. Working memory, attention and alertness During overnight and extended operations, work together to support clear you can use specific strategies as part of a thinking, informationfatigue management plan to boost alertness processing, planning and improve your performance across and decisionmany areas of TFF. Getting enough sleep on making. a regular basis sets the foundation for an effective fatigue management plan. Service members should strive to get 7-9 hours of sleep every night for optimal performance. leep impacts every part of the human body and is essential to military health, wellness and performance.
hormones, increasing the hormone that stimulates appetite while decreasing the hormone that suppresses it. As a result, sleep-deprived people can consume more than 300 extra calories a day beyond what they need, leading to unwanted weight gain. They also tend to crave more calorie-packed foods, such as sweets and fatty foods. Spiritual fitness • Core beliefs and values that drive meaning, purpose and connectedness in life. Spiritual fitness includes the commitment to service and the meaningful relationships you build with your family, team members, unit and nation.
Getting less than the recommended hours of sleep each day leads to sleep debt. Going into a period of night operations without an existing sleep debt and optimizing sleep quality and quantity over the preceding two weeks will ensure maximum readiness to face a period of sleep deprivation. Sleep and Performance: The benefits of getting 7-9 hours of sleep per night. Physical fitness • When you’re asleep, your skeletal muscles reach a state of deep relaxation, allowing for rest and recovery after any level of activity, including intense exercise. • Sleep promotes muscle repair, tissue growth and hormone regulation — essential processes for maintaining and growing muscle mass. • When you’re well-rested, you can exercise with greater stamina and efficiency, minimizing the risk of injury and achieving better overall performance. Mental fitness • Sleep helps stabilize emotional control and improve self-regulation. Getting enough sleep is essential for regulating both emotional input (desires, impulses, feelings, reactions) and executive function (judgment, reasoning, self-control) to minimize the impact of unbalanced
Social fitness • Adequate sleep improves the ability to self-regulate, leading to better communication. • Regularly getting enough sleep can increase empathy, openness to others and a willingness to resolve conflicts. Nutritional fitness • During sleep, your body balances hormones responsible for controlling hunger and fullness, which help ensure your food consumption aligns with your metabolic needs. But lack of sleep disrupts the balance of hunger-regulating
• Adequate sleep supports self-regulation, an essential aspect of living according to your core beliefs and values as well as fostering relationships with others. By prioritizing sufficient sleep, you can strengthen your spiritual well-being and maintain a sense of purpose and connectedness in life.
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