Sleep deficit and fatigue

[Navy OnStar]

Once every 3 months, Navy Squadrons have to have a Safety Stand-down where we stop flying for the day and look at our practices and have some lectures on specific safety issues. Today we had a lecture on Sleep deprivation.

Without boring you all with all the details (although the hour lecture was far from boring) here are some of the more interesting things I learned:

-You cannot "Bank Sleep" You can only have no deficit
-Americans as a whole carry around a 25-50 hour sleep deficit.
-We can't erase a deficit like that in one weekend. We may feel perfectly rested after sleeping all weekend but tests show that your cognitive ability recovers at a much slower rate.
-Statistical data shows that people who get less than 6 hours or more than 10 hours of sleep every day die younger than those who get 8 to 8.25 hours a night.
-If you are perfectly rested (no deficit), your internal clock will wake you just before your alarm (if you get up the same time everyday.)
-Naps of any length are good and do wonders to improve you performance

And the Gems of the whole lecture

-The majority of memory formation is made permanent between the 6 and 8 hour point of sleep a night. A study done on people in boot camp showed (with the same classes and instructors) the group with only 6 hours of sleep a night performed 20% worse than those who got 8 hours of sleep a night.

MY FAVORITE

-Tests have been conducted on 2 sets of people doing the exact same simple cognitive test and the results show that people who are awake for 20 to 24 hours continuosly have the same test scores as the group with a .08 Blood Alcohol Level.

I was so amazed I just had to share

SO DON'T DRIVE TIRED!

Good Night

OnStar

[navyhmc]

I had heard something similar before, but a good refresher.

BTW, how's P'cola? Her is The Rectangle State, it sucks!

[scubajane]

don't DIVE tired either. Sleep deprivation is a terrible thing. It can make a person crazy lazy and dumb. I have never understood why companies think It is a good Idea to make their employees rotate shifts. It takes about 2 weeks to adjust to each shift and some people rotate through all 3 shifts in a week..

[WV Diver]

I have always been an early bird and I still wake up well before my alarm everyday. I admit in the summer months I probably only average about 6 to 7 hours sleep a night but they are good hours as the team can work up to 15 hours a day. But then I am a lot more active than I am in the winter months and this makes more sleep less productive.

I feel best when I have had about 7 hours. If I sleep too long I feel bad all day, sluggish and tired with no energy. It is better for me to get too little sleep than too much, at least in the short term.

Everyone is different, I know some people that can only sleep 4 or 5 hours no matter how hard they try and couldn't function with 8 hours.

[Navy OnStar]

Originally Posted by WV Diver

I have always been an early bird and I still wake up well before my alarm everyday. I admit in the summer months I probably only average about 6 to 7 hours sleep a night but they are good hours as the team can work up to 15 hours a day. But then I am a lot more active than I am in the winter months and this makes more sleep less productive.

I feel best when I have had about 7 hours. If I sleep too long I feel bad all day, sluggish and tired with no energy. It is better for me to get too little sleep than too much, at least in the short term.

Everyone is different, I know some people that can only sleep 4 or 5 hours no matter how hard they try and couldn't function with 8 hours.

form the lecture: 1 to 2% of the us population are short sleepers that require less sleep. I know I am an 8 hour person....sounds like you are a short sleeper.

[WV Diver]

Originally Posted by Navy OnStar

form the lecture: 1 to 2% of the us population are short sleepers that require less sleep. I know I am an 8 hour person....sounds like you are a short sleeper.

Sounds about right. I very seldom find myself among the normal or average folks of the world. I wish I could go on the 4 or 5 hour schedule but I definitely can not do that.

[Navy OnStar]

Originally Posted by WV Diver

Sounds about right. I very seldom find myself among the normal or average folks of the world. I wish I could go on the 4 or 5 hour schedule but I definitely can not do that.

I know the feeling

[BuzzF117]

7.5-8 hrs and im golden any more then that and I usually have a headache all day. Had to change jobs because of sleep deprivation I couldn't get myself on any type of schedule and I would run stop signs so the similarity between drunkeness and sleep deprevation was a real thing in my life. I am now back on an up at 5 am schedule everyday and luv it. I do occasionally go short on sleep for one day but make it up by crashing that afternoon.

[RoadRacer1978]

I can say I am an eight hours person as well, although in the last 2 years I hav been learning to make it on less. I have to sleep weird hours and say up for long periods of time somethimes, well actually most of the time. It was a really rough adjustment at first, but somehow your bod starts to adapt. I'm not saying I am always giving myself the rest I need, but I am getting to the point that I feel more rested and find it easier alot of the time to stay awake.

Thanks for the info. I have heard most of it before, but like always I learned something new today.

[Goober]

Good stuff!