Sustained Military Performance in Continuous Operations: Combatant Fatigue, Restand Sleep Needs

摘要

Military forces have developed sophisticated night vision technology and otherbattlefield sensors, giving them the capability to fight through the night. These innovations bring about the tactical doctrine of continuous operations (CONOPS): fighting around-the-clock for successive days, even weeks at a time. CONOPS combatants, especially 'night fighters' who work during darkness and rest during the day, get only brief, scattered, fragmented sleep and often accumulate significant sleep debt. Sustained workload combined with fatigue to degrade performance, productivity, safety, and mission effectiveness. Sleep loss and cognitive distortions, and changes in affect vary according to circadian rhythm time-of-day effects. Research findings on the combination of sustained performance and sleep deprivation have implications for theoretical models of sustained perceptual and cognitive functioning. This chapter reviews these implications and suggests strategies for combatants who engage in continuous military operations.