Objectives: Only one-third of U.S. Army Soldiers meet the recommended sleep guideline of 7 or more hours per night. Soldiers meeting the recommended sleep guideline are more likely to perform better on cognitive and physical tasks. The purpose of this analysis was to compare the physical and behavioral characteristics of Soldiers who met and did not meet the sleep recommendation guideline and determine associations between physical and behavioral characteristics and the acquisition of recommended amounts of sleep per night.
Methods: A survey was administered to U.S. Army Soldiers. Adjusted odds ratios and corresponding 95% confidence intervals were calculated to determine associations between achieving the recommended number of hours of sleep per night and age, physical characteristics, health behaviors, physical training, and physical performance.
Results: A survey was completed by 4229 men and 969 women. Male Soldiers who met the recommended sleep requirement had lower estimated body fat [20.3 ± 4.2% vs. 21.1 ± 4.4%], were less likely to use tobacco [11.5% vs. 16.2%] and exercised more [259 ± 226 vs. 244 ± 224 min/wk] compared with those who did not obtain 7 hours of sleep per night. Female Soldiers who met the recommended sleep requirement had lower estimated body fat [31.4 ± 4% vs. 32.1 ± 4.6%] and exercised more [258 ± 206 vs. 241 ± 216 min/wk] compared with those who did not obtain 7 hours of sleep per night.
Conclusion: Soldiers who choose to adopt healthy lifestyle characteristics may be more likely to meet the recommended sleep duration guideline.
Keywords: Age; Body composition; Military; Physical performance; Physical training; Tobacco.
Published by Elsevier Inc.