Sleep knowledge, goals, and habits in soldiers

Abstract Objectives The present study examines the link between these individual sleep knowledge, goals, and habits and self-reported sleep quantity in a military setting. Methods Survey data from active duty US soldiers were analyzed using a modified Poisson regression to provide relative risk ratios. Results Soldiers who had better sleep knowledge and endorsed healthy sleep goals and habits were more likely to report adequate sleep (7 or more hours of sleep per 24 hours) than those who did not. Specifically, soldiers who endorsed a goal of trying to get at least 7 hours of sleep per night had a 2.8 fold increase in the probability of reporting adequate sleep relative to short sleep (≤6 hours of sleep per 24 hours). Conclusions These findings identify areas of focus for sleep education programs designed to target soldiers at-risk for insufficient sleep.