Sleep and Modeled Performance of Arctic Patrollers during Operation Nunalivut 2010

• Main Authors: Paul, Michel A, Bouak, Fethi
• Other Authors: DEFENCE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT TORONTO (CANADA)
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: Anatomy and Physiology; Military Forces and Organizations; *MILITARY FORCES(FOREIGN); *SLEEP; ARCTIC REGIONS; CANADA; COGNITION; DAILY OCCURRENCE; FATIGUE(PHYSIOLOGY); PATROLLING; PERCEPTION(PSYCHOLOGY); SCHEDULING; FOREIGN REPORTS; FAST(FATIGUE AVOIDANCE SCHEDULING TOOL); ARCTIC PATROLLERS; WASCO(WAKE AFTER SLEEP ONSET); Arctic; Canada; Canadian Forces Station Alert; inuit
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA557356; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA557356

The goal of this work was to monitor sleep (via wrist actigraphs) in Arctic Patrollers and generate cognitive effectiveness models for each patroller using a program called Fatigue Avoidance Scheduling Tool (FASTTM). Actigraphic data were collected from 23 Arctic patrollers of whom 3 were Inuit Rangers (who ranged from 25 to 62 years of age), from one ranger instructor (48 years of age) and from 19 troops who were freshly deployed from various regions across southern Canada (who ranged from 21 to 54 years of age). The patrols ranged from 5 to 14 days in duration. Sleep data were recorded for several days at Canadian Forces Station Alert prior to departing on patrol and throughout the patrols. The following sleep parameters (primary sleep period minutes, total daily sleep minutes, number of daily naps, daily nap minutes, sleep latency in minutes, number of sleep episodes in the primary sleep period, and WASO (Wake After Sleep Onset) in minutes) were recorded and graphed for each day as well as averaged over 16 days. Total daily sleep minutes along with daily work periods were inputted to FASTTM to generate models of cognitive effectiveness for each of the 23 Arctic patrollers. Results and Discussion: Inuit Rangers obtained more sleep in their primary sleep periods, have fewer sleep episodes and have less wake time within their primary sleep periods than their freshly deployed counterparts. On several days the FASTTM models for 2 of the 3 Inuit Rangers predicted levels of performance equivalent to a blood alcohol content of 0.05%.