0171 Work and Sleep Patterns in Military Shift Workers: Promoting Health and Wellness Through Informed Shift Schedules
Loading...
Authors
Subjects
Advisors
Date of Issue
2017-04-28
Date
Published: 28 April 2017
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Language
en_US
Abstract
Introduction: Reduced manning, extended work hours, and circadian misalignment are some of the factors which contribute to the sleep debt and degraded alertness observed in much of the military population. This study compared fatigue levels, sleep, and real time performance measures (e.g., reaction time) of military shift workers. Methods: Working either 8-hour (daytime, evening, or overnight) or 12-hour (day, overnight) shifts, military shift workers (N=75) serving in various locations around the world participated in the 2-week study. Participants wore actigraphs, completed activity logs, and performed a three-minute Psychomotor Vigilance Task (PVT) before and after standing watch. In addition, they completed sleep habits and mood states questionnaires at the beginning and end of the study. Results: Participants slept 6.74 hours/day, with 19% sleeping less than 6 hours on average. At the outset of the study, ~62% of the participants reported insomnia symptoms and were classified as poor sleepers. Although sleep duration did not differ between schedules, participants on the 8-hour shifts made fewer errors and showed less variability in PVT (e.g., fewer lapses combined with false starts) compared to those individuals working on 12-hour shifts. Participants on 12-hour shifts were nearly twice as likely to be identified as poor sleepers compared to those on 8-hour shifts. Finally, many more participants reported personal preference of the 8-hour over the 12-hour shift schedule. The top three issues identified as interfering with sleep were temperature, light, and noise. Conclusion: Results show that sleep quality, quantity, and sleeping conditions remain problems for these military shift workers. Preliminary findings suggest that the 8-hour shift schedule is preferable to the 12-hour one, both in terms of personal preference and performance. Efforts are underway in this population to assess the use of High Energy Visible (HEV) blue light-blocking glasses to facilitate circadian entrainment and improve sleep during daytime hours. The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the DoN, DoD, or the U.S. Government.
Type
Article
Description
The article of record as published may be found at https://doi.org/10.1093/sleepj/zsx050.170
Series/Report No
Department
Operations Research (OR)
Organization
Naval Postgraduate School
Identifiers
NPS Report Number
Sponsors
Funder
Format
2 p.
Citation
Sleep, Volume 40, Issue suppl_1, 28 April 2017, Pages A63–A64
Distribution Statement
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.