Effects of 36 hours of sleep deprivation on military-related tasks: Can ammonium inhalants maintain performance?

Autor: Maleček J; Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic., Omcirk D; Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic., Skálová K; National Institute of Mental Health, Klecany, Czech Republic.; Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic., Pádecký J; Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic., Janikov MT; Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic., Obrtel M; Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic., Jonáš M; Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic., Kolář D; National Institute of Mental Health, Klecany, Czech Republic., Michalička V; Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic., Sýkora K; Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic., Vágner M; Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic., Přívětivý L; Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic., Větrovský T; Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic., Bendová Z; National Institute of Mental Health, Klecany, Czech Republic.; Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic., Třebický V; Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic., Tufano JJ; Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: PloS one [PLoS One] 2023 Nov 15; Vol. 18 (11), pp. e0293804. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Nov 15 (Print Publication: 2023).
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0293804
Abstrakt: Introduction: A lack of sleep can pose a risk during military operations due to the associated decreases in physical and cognitive performance. However, fast-acting ergogenic aids, such as ammonia inhalants (AI), may temporarily mitigate those adverse effects of total sleep deprivation (TSD). Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the acute effect of AI on cognitive and physical performance throughout 36 hours of TSD in military personnel.
Methods: Eighteen male military cadets (24.1 ± 3.0 y; 79.3 ± 8.3 kg) performed 5 identical testing sessions during 36 hours of TSD (after 0 [0], 12 [-12], 24 [-24], and 36 [-36] hours of TSD), and after 8 [+8] hours of recovery sleep. During each testing session, the following assessments were conducted: Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS), simple reaction time (SRT), shooting accuracy (SA), rifle disassembling and reassembling (DAS), and countermovement jump height (JH). Heart rate (HR) was continuously monitored during the SA task, and a rating of perceived exertion (RPE) was obtained during the JH task. At each time point, tests were performed twice, either with AI or without AI as control (CON), in a counterbalanced order.
Results: There was faster SRT (1.6%; p < 0.01) without increasing the number of errors, higher JH (1.5%; p < 0.01), lower RPE (9.4%; p < 0.001), and higher HR (5.0%; p < 0.001) after using AI compared to CON regardless of TSD. However, neither SA nor DAS were affected by AI or TSD (p > 0.05). Independent of AI, the SRT was slower (3.2-9.3%; p < 0.001) in the mornings (-24, +8) than in the evening (-12), JH was higher (3.0-4.7%, p < 0.001) in the evenings (-12, -36) than in the mornings (0, -24, +8), and RPE was higher (20.0-40.1%; p < 0.001) in the sleep-deprived morning (-24) than all other timepoints (0, -12, -36, +8). Furthermore, higher ESS (59.5-193.4%; p < 0.001) was reported at -24 and -36 than the rest of the time points (0, -12, and + 8).
Conclusion: Although there were detrimental effects of TSD, the usage of AI did not reduce those adverse effects. However, regardless of TSD, AI did result in a short-term increase in HR, improved SRT without affecting the number of errors, and improved JH while concurrently decreasing the RPE. No changes, yet, were observed in SA and DAS. These results suggest that AI could potentially be useful in some military scenarios, regardless of sleep deprivation.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
(Copyright: © 2023 Maleček et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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