The Relationship Between Sleep Regimen and Performance in United States Navy Recruits
Abstract
Fatigue due to sleep deprivation is a major factor in both mental and physical performance. Failure of Recruits to receive the proper quality and quantity of sleep can be detrimental to a Recruit's safety and can diminish the amount of information learned during training. During the 1980s, the sleep regimen was decreased to 6 hours of sleep per night. In 2002, a decision was made to give U.S. Navy Recruits an additional two hours of sleep per night. This modification was selected to coincide with the acknowledged adolescent/young adult circadian rhythms. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of the new eight-hour sleep regimen using standardized test scores as a performance measure. One year of data with the eight-hour sleep regimen was compared to two separate years when only six hours of sleep was allowed. There is a significant difference, F(2, 33) = 29.82, p < .0001, between the test scores of Recruits receiving 6 hours of sleep and 8 hours of sleep. On average test scores rose by 11 percent with the additional sleep. The odds of observing such a difference is less than one in ten million.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 2004
- Accession Number
- ADA427125
Entities
People
- Charles H. Andrews
Organizations
- Naval Postgraduate School