There is a growing public awareness of the importance of sleep to overall health and mental health. Reporting on health related issues continues to emphasis the importance of good sleep to so many aspects of our overall health. Research has demonstrated links to learning and memory, metabolism and weight, mood, and cardiovascular health.
There is a growing demand for embedding mental health personnel in military operational settings to improve health and optimize the performance. Given the importance of sleep to both general health and occupational performance, this blog seeks to highlight relevant findings concerning how supervisor’s behaviors correspond to sleep outcomes for subordinates.
In the first part of this blog, I discussed the historical use and current trends in use of tobacco in the military population. This time around we're going to examine another widely-used and socially-sanctioned substance, caffeine. If tobacco is the spark to the battle weary individual, it is surely coffee or caffeine that is gas that feeds the ever-elusive energy flame
When one thinks about substance use or addiction in the military, one’s mind may automatically go to alcohol. Although the prevalence of alcohol use and abuse can be considerable, we would be remiss to overlook the historical use and current trends in use of two other legally and socially sanctioned substances within our military population: tobacco and caffeine.
Have you ever said “I need a drink!” to a friend or colleague? Maybe you’d had a long, stressful day, or maybe you wanted to unwind and relax before bed. I think it’s endemic in our society to an extent, the use of having a drink – let me clarify, an alcoholic drink – to de-stress, and by extension for many, to try to get to sleep.