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Shaw DM, Harrell JW. Integrating physiological monitoring systems in military aviation: a brief narrative review of its importance, opportunities, and risks. ERGONOMICS 2023; 66:2242-2254. [PMID: 36946542 DOI: 10.1080/00140139.2023.2194592] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2022] [Accepted: 03/18/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Military pilots risk their lives during training and operations. Advancements in aerospace engineering, flight profiles, and mission demands may require the pilot to test the safe limits of their physiology. Monitoring pilot physiology (e.g. heart rate, oximetry, and respiration) inflight is in consideration by several nations to inform pilots of reduced performance capacity and guide future developments in aircraft and life-support system design. Numerous challenges, however, prevent the immediate operationalisation of physiological monitoring sensors, particularly their unreliability in the aerospace environment and incompatibility with pilot clothing and protective equipment. Human performance and behaviour are also highly variable and measuring these in controlled laboratory settings do not mirror the real-world conditions pilots must endure. Misleading or erroneous predictive models are unacceptable as these could compromise mission success and lose operator trust. This narrative review provides an overview of considerations for integrating physiological monitoring systems within the military aviation environment.Practitioner summary: Advancements in military technology can conflictingly enhance and compromise pilot safety and performance. We summarise some of the opportunities, limitations, and risks of integrating physiological monitoring systems within military aviation. Our intent is to catalyse further research and technological development.Abbreviations: AGS: anti-gravity suit; AGSM: anti-gravity straining manoeuvre; A-LOC: almost loss of consciousness; CBF: cerebral blood flow; ECG: electrocardiogram; EEG: electroencephalogram; fNIRS: functional near-infrared spectroscopy; G-forces: gravitational forces; G-LOC: gravity-induced loss of consciousness; HR: heart rate; HRV: heart rate variability; LSS: life-support system; NATO: North Atlantic Treaty Organisation; PE: Physiological Episode; PCO2: partial pressure of carbon dioxide; PO2: partial pressure of oxygen; OBOGS: on board oxygen generating systems; SpO2: peripheral blood haemoglobin-oxygen saturation; STANAG: North Atlantic Treaty Organisation Standardisation Agreement; UPE: Unexplained Physiological Episode; WBV: whole body vibration.
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Affiliation(s)
- David M Shaw
- Aviation Medicine Unit, Royal New Zealand Air Force Base Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
- School of Sport, Exercise and Nutrition, Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - John W Harrell
- 711th Human Performance Wing, Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, OH, USA
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LaGoy AD, Kubala AG, Deering S, Germain A, Markwald RR. Dawn of a New Dawn: Advances in Sleep Health to Optimize Performance. Sleep Med Clin 2023; 18:361-371. [PMID: 37532375 DOI: 10.1016/j.jsmc.2023.05.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/04/2023]
Abstract
Optimal sleep health is a critical component to high-level performance. In populations such as the military, public service (eg, firefighters), and health care, achieving optimal sleep health is difficult and subsequently deficiencies in sleep health may lead to performance decrements. However, advances in sleep monitoring technologies and mitigation strategies for poor sleep health show promise for further ecological scientific investigation within these populations. The current review briefly outlines the relationship between sleep health and performance as well as current advances in behavioral and technological approaches to improving sleep health for performance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alice D LaGoy
- Sleep, Tactical Efficiency, and Endurance Laboratory, Warfighter Performance Department, Naval Health Research Center, 140 Sylvester Road, San Diego, CA 92106, USA; Leidos, Inc., San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Andrew G Kubala
- Sleep, Tactical Efficiency, and Endurance Laboratory, Warfighter Performance Department, Naval Health Research Center, 140 Sylvester Road, San Diego, CA 92106, USA; Leidos, Inc., San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Sean Deering
- Sleep, Tactical Efficiency, and Endurance Laboratory, Warfighter Performance Department, Naval Health Research Center, 140 Sylvester Road, San Diego, CA 92106, USA; Leidos, Inc., San Diego, CA, USA
| | | | - Rachel R Markwald
- Sleep, Tactical Efficiency, and Endurance Laboratory, Warfighter Performance Department, Naval Health Research Center, 140 Sylvester Road, San Diego, CA 92106, USA.
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Giles GE, Navarro E, Elkin-Frankston S, Brunyé TT, Elmore WR, Seay JF, McKenzie KL, O'Fallon KS, Brown SA, Parham JL, Garlie TN, DeSimone L, Villa JD, Choi-Rokas HE, Mitchell KB, Racicot K, Soares JW, Caruso C, Anderson D, Cantelon JA, Gardony AL, Smith TJ, Karl JP, Jayne JM, Christopher JJ, Talarico MK, Sperlein JN, Boynton AC, Jensen A, Ramsay JW, Eddy MD. Characterizing Relationships Among the Cognitive, Physical, Social-emotional, and Health-related Traits of Military Personnel. Mil Med 2023; 188:e2275-e2283. [PMID: 36705463 DOI: 10.1093/milmed/usad002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2022] [Revised: 12/07/2022] [Accepted: 01/04/2023] [Indexed: 01/28/2023] Open
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Personnel engaged in high-stakes occupations, such as military personnel, law enforcement, and emergency first responders, must sustain performance through a range of environmental stressors. To maximize the effectiveness of military personnel, an a priori understanding of traits can help predict their physical and cognitive performance under stress and adversity. This work developed and assessed a suite of measures that have the potential to predict performance during operational scenarios. These measures were designed to characterize four specific trait-based domains: cognitive, health, physical, and social-emotional. MATERIALS AND METHODS One hundred and ninety-one active duty U.S. Army soldiers completed interleaved questionnaire-based, seated task-based, and physical task-based measures over a period of 3-5 days. Redundancy analysis, dimensionality reduction, and network analyses revealed several patterns of interest. RESULTS First, unique variable analysis revealed a minimally redundant battery of instruments. Second, principal component analysis showed that metrics tended to cluster together in three to five components within each domain. Finally, analyses of cross-domain associations using network analysis illustrated that cognitive, health, physical, and social-emotional domains showed strong construct solidarity. CONCLUSIONS The present battery of metrics presents a fieldable toolkit that may be used to predict operational performance that can be clustered into separate components or used independently. It will aid predictive algorithm development aimed to identify critical predictors of individual military personnel and small-unit performance outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Grace E Giles
- United States Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center, Natick, MA 01760, USA
- Center for Applied Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Medford, MA 02155, USA
| | - Ester Navarro
- Center for Applied Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Medford, MA 02155, USA
| | - Seth Elkin-Frankston
- United States Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center, Natick, MA 01760, USA
- Center for Applied Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Medford, MA 02155, USA
| | - Tad T Brunyé
- United States Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center, Natick, MA 01760, USA
- Center for Applied Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Medford, MA 02155, USA
| | - Wade R Elmore
- United States Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center, Natick, MA 01760, USA
| | - Joseph F Seay
- United States Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center, Natick, MA 01760, USA
| | - Kari L McKenzie
- United States Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center, Natick, MA 01760, USA
| | - Kevin S O'Fallon
- United States Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center, Natick, MA 01760, USA
| | - Stephanie A Brown
- United States Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center, Natick, MA 01760, USA
| | - Joseph L Parham
- United States Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center, Natick, MA 01760, USA
| | - Todd N Garlie
- United States Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center, Natick, MA 01760, USA
| | - Linda DeSimone
- United States Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center, Natick, MA 01760, USA
| | - Jose D Villa
- United States Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center, Natick, MA 01760, USA
| | - Hyegjoo E Choi-Rokas
- United States Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center, Natick, MA 01760, USA
| | - K Blake Mitchell
- United States Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center, Natick, MA 01760, USA
| | - Kenneth Racicot
- United States Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center, Natick, MA 01760, USA
| | - Jason W Soares
- United States Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center, Natick, MA 01760, USA
| | - Christina Caruso
- United States Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center, Natick, MA 01760, USA
| | - Debra Anderson
- United States Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center, Natick, MA 01760, USA
| | - Julie A Cantelon
- United States Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center, Natick, MA 01760, USA
| | - Aaron L Gardony
- United States Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center, Natick, MA 01760, USA
| | - Tracey J Smith
- United States Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, Natick, MA 01760, USA
| | - J Philip Karl
- United States Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, Natick, MA 01760, USA
| | - Julianna M Jayne
- United States Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, Natick, MA 01760, USA
| | - John J Christopher
- United States Army Aberdeen Test Center, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21005, USA
| | - Maria K Talarico
- United States Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Analysis Center, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21005, USA
| | - Jennifer Neugebauer Sperlein
- United States Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Analysis Center, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21005, USA
| | - Angela C Boynton
- United States Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Analysis Center, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21005, USA
| | - Andrew Jensen
- Naval Health Research Center, San Diego, CA 92152, USA
| | - John W Ramsay
- United States Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center, Natick, MA 01760, USA
| | - Marianna D Eddy
- United States Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center, Natick, MA 01760, USA
- Center for Applied Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Medford, MA 02155, USA
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Giles GE, Grandjean DA Costa K, Olenich SA, Powell KJ, Hart-Pomerantz H, Adelman MJ, Elmore WR, Cantelon JA. Load Carriage and Physical Exertion Influence Soldier Emotional Responses. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2022; 54:2149-2157. [PMID: 36377052 DOI: 10.1249/mss.0000000000002997] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Regular aerobic exercise benefits psychological health, enhancing mood in clinical and nonclinical populations. However, single bouts of exercise exert both positive and negative effects on emotion. Exercise reliably increases emotional arousal. Its effects on emotional valence are thought to depend on an interplay between cognitive and interoceptive factors that change as a function of exercise intensity, as studied in clinical, healthy, and athlete populations. However, special populations, such as military, first responders, and endurance athletes, have unique physical exertion requirements that can coincide with additional cognitive, physical, and environmental stressors not typical of the general population. Load carriage is one such activity. The present study examined emotional valence and arousal during sustained, heavy load carriage akin to military training and operations. METHODS Thirteen (one woman) active duty soldiers completed a V̇O2max test, a 2-h loaded (up to 50% body mass) and unloaded (empty rucksack) treadmill foot march (3 mph/4% incline) on separate days, during which they rated their exertion and emotional valence and arousal every 40 min. They also completed measures of positive and negative affect and anxiety before and every 20 min after the foot march. RESULTS Two hours of loaded foot march led to elevated perceived exertion and less positive, more negative and anxious feelings. Higher rated exertion and more negative emotion were associated with higher percent HRmax and V̇O2peak at multiple time points. CONCLUSIONS These results support affect exertion models such as the Dual Mode Theory, whereby physical exertion becomes less pleasant with increasing intensity, and provide insights into how affective responses applied contexts may help predict time to fatigue or failure.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Sara A Olenich
- Center for Applied Brain and Cognitive Sciences (CABCS), Medford, MA
| | - Kate J Powell
- Center for Applied Brain and Cognitive Sciences (CABCS), Medford, MA
| | | | | | - Wade R Elmore
- U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center (DEVCOM SC), Natick, MA
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Nieman DC. Multiomics Approach to Precision Sports Nutrition: Limits, Challenges, and Possibilities. Front Nutr 2022; 8:796360. [PMID: 34970584 PMCID: PMC8712338 DOI: 10.3389/fnut.2021.796360] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2021] [Accepted: 11/24/2021] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Most sports nutrition guidelines are based on group average responses and professional opinion. Precision nutrition for athletes aims to improve the individualization of nutrition practices to optimize long-term performance and health. This is a 2-step process that first involves the acquisition of individual-specific, science-based information using a variety of sources including lifestyle and medical histories, dietary assessment, physiological assessments from the performance lab and wearable sensors, and multiomics data from blood, urine, saliva, and stool samples. The second step consists of the delivery of science-based nutrition advice, behavior change support, and the monitoring of health and performance efficacy and benefits relative to cost. Individuals vary widely in the way they respond to exercise and nutritional interventions, and understanding why this metabolic heterogeneity exists is critical for further advances in precision nutrition. Another major challenge is the development of evidence-based individualized nutrition recommendations that are embraced and efficacious for athletes seeking the most effective enhancement of performance, metabolic recovery, and health. At this time precision sports nutrition is an emerging discipline that will require continued technological and scientific advances before this approach becomes accurate and practical for athletes and fitness enthusiasts at the small group or individual level. The costs and scientific challenges appear formidable, but what is already being achieved today in precision nutrition through multiomics and sensor technology seemed impossible just two decades ago.
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Affiliation(s)
- David C Nieman
- North Carolina Research Campus, Human Performance Laboratory, Department of Biology, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC, United States
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