Citation

Mysliwiec V, Moore BA. Mil. Med. 2022; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, Association of Military Surgeons of the United States)

DOI

10.1093/milmed/usac156

PMID

35708154

Abstract

Elliman and colleagues (2022) examined a range of socio-ecological factors (i.e., leadership, injuries, geography, and sleep) that contribute to barriers to care in 726 active duty U.S. Army drill sergeants. We compliment them on the successful completion of a study with incredibly difficult logistical requirements (i.e., recruitment of ∼50% of all active duty Army drill sergeants). Most notable among their findings were that many drill sergeants (37.7%) reported experiencing physical injury while "on the trail" and that injuries were significantly more likely to occur in drill sergeants who reported fewer than 6 hours of sleep per night. Despite sustaining an injury, 39% of drill sergeants reported not seeking care for their injury. Finally, across the whole study, drill sergeants reported dysfunctional beliefs that seeking help would reduce their ability to perform their military duties, and that leadership would not support them in taking time off to see a medical provider.

Addressing service member health is multifactorial and often reciprocal such that an injury may lead to poor sleep or vice versa. Yet, given the magnitude of sleep deprivation reported by the drill sergeants and that the reported injury rates were adjusted for 6 hours or more of sleep, which is less than is recommended for an average adult by the National Sleep Foundation, it reasons that sleep deprivation was likely the greater factor. To our knowledge, this is the second study in an active duty population that has established a relationship between sleep duration and injuries. The previous study evaluated 7,576 Special Forces soldiers and found an inverse relationship between sleep duration and musculoskeletal injuries; specifically, as sleep duration decreased, the rate of injuries significantly increased.1 In light of the current findings, these two studies begin to provide a basis that physical injuries are not exclusively due to physical training, over-training, or repetitive use but maybe in part due to the marked sleep deprivation that occurs in the military population...

Language: en