Improving Human Performance Through Sleep Restoration

Rapid sleep schedule shift, such as resulted from travel or work schedules, causes severe disruption in the circadian clocks. Due to the frequent travel and night missions, circadian clock misalignment is a major contributor to the nonrestorative sleep that undermines subsequent performance in SOF operators and other elite soldiers with similarly demanding missions. In the absence of effective sleep solutions, travelers, shift workers, SOF personnel and others often resort to alternatives to help overcome the lack of sleep and its impact on wake functions. These include self-medication with alcohol, antihistamines, prescription sleeping pills, heavy caffeine use, and others. These can be effective in the short term to induce sleep or wakefulness, but not effective in the long-term from developing tolerance or with substantial side effects. Circadian clock adjustment can be a non-invasive, effective approach for SOF operators to achieve restorative sleep. We have developed a first-generation Lumos Smart Sleep Mask to adjust circadian rhythms for SOCOM. This Phase II project aims to expand the circadian-adjustment capability from handling just jet lag to covering the use cases of night shifts and deployments containing travel and night shifts. Preliminary success has been shown by the sleep and performance improvement for individual shift workers using tailored workaround programs from the jet lag-reducing functionality in the existing product. Circadian clock adjustment can be a non-invasive, effective approach for SOF operators to achieve restorative sleep. We have developed a first-generation Lumos Smart Sleep Mask to adjust circadian rhythms for SOCOM. This Phase II project aims to expand the circadian-adjustment capability from handling just jet lag to covering the use cases of night shifts and deployments containing travel and night shifts. Preliminary success has been shown by the sleep and performance improvement for individual shift workers using tailored workaround programs from the jet lag-reducing functionality in the existing product. During the Phase I feasibility study, we have confirmed the feasibility of such targeted circadian alignment approach to enhance restorative sleep and performance for SOF operators. This proposal’s overall objective is to design, develop, fabricate, and test a Lumos Smart Sleep Mask 2.0 prototype to improve sleep and performances through circadian clock adjustment for SOF operators. At the successful completion of this effort, we will build a Night Shift Module to optimize circadian clocks for sleep and shift performance, and a Travel + Shift Module designed explicitly for SOF operator deployments. The efficacy of both modules will be evaluated through within-subject controlled sleep studies.