The Army News Service examines the issue of sleep and sleep deprivation among soldiers.
“If you have less than six hours of sleep for six days in a row … you are cognitively impaired as if you had a .08-percent alcohol level. … We never will allow a Soldier in our formation with a .08-percent alcohol level, but we allow it [sleep deprivation] every day [in Soldiers who have] to make those complex decisions.”
Adding to what Horoho said, Van Arman pointed out that after being awake 17 hours, response time has been shown to be the equivalent to a person with a blood alcohol content of .05 percent and 24-hours awake translates to a blood alcohol concentration, or BAC, of .10 percent.
Van Arman, medical director, Traumatic Brain Injury, or TBI, Clinic on Fort Drum, New York, spoke at the 2015 Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury, held at the Defense Health Headquarters in Falls Church, Virginia, Sept. 9.
