Clinical Sleep Research to Characterize, Predict, and Ameliorate Operationally Relevant Sleep and Pe
Abstract
Military missions and other high-stakes operations such as emergency and disaster response commonly involve significant sleep loss a,nd circadian misalignment. These conditions degrade cognitive performance, increases safety and health risks, and jeopardizes missio,n success, putting a premium on warfighter readiness, resilience, and performance maximization. Warfighters show elevated risk of sl,eep disorders, with prevalence rates as high as 50% but little is known about the effects of sleep disorders on warfighter readine,ss and resilience. We will therefore extend our substantial prior work on the consequences of sleep loss and circadian misalignment,from healthy to sleep-disordered populations. With this DURIP proposal, we seek to enable research to characterize, predict, and ame,liorate operationally relevant performance deficits and safety and health risks in clinical populations. Within the newly establishe,d clinical sleep research laboratory in the Sleep and Performance Research Center (SPRC) at Washington State University (WSU) Health, Sciences Spokane, we will set up an integrated measuring system that will connect seamlessly with our existing research infrastruct,ure. Specifically, we request funds to acquire a C3 (communications, command & control) simulation system to investigate impairments, in individual and team performance in critical operational domains; laptops to run the C3 software and other related cognitive task,s; smart clothing and electrode-based sensors to measure physiological (heart rate variability, galvanic skin conductance) responses, to sleep loss, workload, and stress; high-end polysomnographic recording equipment to study sleep physiology and neurocognitive mar,kers of resilience in individuals with sleep disorders; LED-based adaptable lighting for circadian rhythm-shifting and alertness-enh,ancing interventions (e.g., through blue-enriched light exposure); and server and network attached storage components to integrate a,nd automate this equipment and provide data safety and security. This integrated system will add to our existing capabilities in mea,suring simulated violent encounter and hazardous task performance, simulated driving, eye tracking and near-infrared optical tomogra,phy, and high performance computing for statistical and biomathematical modeling. The requested equipment will allow for collective,, center-wide utilization by SPRC faculty, post-doctoral researchers, and graduate and medical students, and will also contribute to,our track record of training the next generation of scientists active in DoD-relevant areas of science. Further, with the recent est,ablishment of WSUs College of Medicine, the new clinical sleep research laboratory with the equipment requested in this DURIP propo,sal will provide a valuable setting to train medical students in sleep medicine and C3 operational scenarios.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 2022
- Source ID
- N000142212368
Entities
People
- Devon A Hansen
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- Washington State University