NO EXTENSIONS A. posted Aug 25, 2023 7:28 PM Hi everyone, Below is my Unit 8 As

NO EXTENSIONS
A. posted Aug 25, 2023 7:28 PM
Hi everyone, Below is my Unit 8 Assignment, I would love to hear as much feedback as possible. Am I on the right track to meeting the assignment requirements according to the rubric and is there anything else I could have added or taken out to strengthen my writing?
Connection Between Sleep Deprivation and Work Productivity in Soldiers
Have you ever experienced emotional instability or found it easy to become happy or sad? or perhaps become uncoordinated, struggle to make decisions, and have difficulties remembering things? Possibly lose your balance and have foggy vision? By all the things that were just described, you’re probably thinking if I’m asking if you’ve ever been drunk. Well, I am not, these are some symptoms of sleep deprivation. Sleep is one of the many things people need to function properly, especially in a work environment. This brings me to why Fort Liberty Soldiers should be relieved from duty day when no tasks are being conducted regardless of the time of the day. This will help reduce low workplace productivity, caused by insufficient sleep.
Being in the military can be extremely tiring, waking up at 4 a.m. every day, going through weeks of field training, working 24-hour shifts every other month, and that’s not even mentioning deployment preparation drills. Every soldier experiences a variety of hardships, and in the military, the expression “embrace the suck” is frequently used. There are many things that soldiers must accept, however releasing soldiers from duty while no duties are being carried out could be beneficial to both the soldiers and the leaders. Some troops have additional responsibilities in addition to their field training, shifts, and exercises, such as childcare, college, or even side jobs. There are only 24 hours in a day and in order to fulfill these obligations, there is no time for soldiers to sleep. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2020), the effects of sleep deprivation are comparable to those of alcohol intoxication. A blood alcohol content (BAC) of 0.05 is equivalent to being awake for 17 hours, while 0.10 is equivalent to being awake for 24 hours. In order for soldiers to have increased productivity, they need to have enough sleep to function properly.
Insufficient sleep can cause low productivity. In an article by pathologist Wright H., and Newsome R. (2023), stated that our cardiovascular and immunological systems, as well as our capacity to then effectively, pick up new knowledge, and regulate emotions, all depends on the restoration that sleep provides. Working when fatigued can have a major negative influence on productivity. The body’s system performs less than ideal when we don’t get enough sleep. Overworked brain neurons slow down bodily responses, impede reasoning, and leave people feeling emotionally spent. Lack of sleep makes people more prone to mistakes and oversights.
While low productivity is one of the reasons why Fort Liberty Soldiers should get released from duty when no tasks are being conducted, caused by insufficient sleep, there are other factors that are at play with lack of sleep, for example, health factors. According to Chamorro-Premuzic (2020), cancer, depression, and cardiovascular issues are all made more likely by problems with lack of sleep. Lack of sleep affects happiness, as well as an increased likelihood of workplace stress, accidents, absenteeism, and unproductive work habits. In America 37% of people who consistently fall short of the recommended minimum of seven hours of sleep per night. That percentage rises to 76% for those who are in the military. For a number of reasons, including stress, service members struggle to get enough sleep. According to studies, troops who sleep for less than four hours every night perform less effectively. A soldier’s daily performance as well as their long-term, mental, and physical health depends on getting enough sleep (Ryan, 2023).
Even though some might agree that soldiers would benefit from efficient sleep, others may disagree with my solution. In an article by Kennedy A. (2016), he counters my solution to this problem. In this article, he agrees with my argument that the military has a bad track record for adequate sleep, but he challenges my solution to fix the issue. He first states that he would prioritize raising awareness of the importance of sleep. Secondly, he states that he would require the use of wearable sleep trackers and put regulations in place to stop those who are sleep-deprived from making decisions and taking charge of teams.
Soldiers of Fort Liberty would agree with many of these solutions to help with being sleep-deprived. Most leaders would agree to many of these solutions that were spoken about, but other leaders wouldn’t because they believe that soldiers should be trained for these types of circumstances like deployment readiness and pulling 24-hour shifts. Leaders do not usually care about problems like this but within today’s era sleep matters to soldiers, because they too have personal lives that matter more to them than the Army.
In conclusion, once leaders are aware of all the risks and things, they are jeopardized by not allowing soldiers to get the acquired amount of sleep they will come together and find a solution to this problem, especially if that will be of benefit to them. It will be a win-win scenario for soldiers and leaders of Fort Liberty. With there being an understanding between soldiers and leaders, it will bring more motivation, and trust in leadership by looking out for soldiers’ health. Workloads would possibly get done faster with a soldier having maximum energy to be efficient at work, more than they would without being sleep-deprived. With workloads getting done faster that should also be a reward for Fort Liberty Soldiers going home early so they can work on themselves and get the energy they need to do it over again to make a day’s work easier for themselves and the team. As most leaders never fail to say, “one team one fight”, enough sleep would definitely be of help if everyone on the team is getting the right amount of sleep and working at their maximum potential.

References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020, March 31). Module 3. Impairments due to sleep deprivation are similar to impairments due to alcohol intoxication!
https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/work-hour-training-for-nurses/longhours/mod3/08.html
Chamorro-Premuzic, T. (2020, July 27). How Much Is Bad Sleep Hurting Your Career?
https://hbr.org/2020/07/how-much-is-bad-sleep-hurting-your-career
Kennedy, A. (2016, Nov 20) The Army has a sleep problem. Here’s how to fix it.
https://www.armytimes.com/opinion/2016/11/20/the-army-has-a-sleep-problem-heres-how-to-fix-it/
Newsom R., Wright H. (2023, Aug 8). The Link Between Sleep and Job Performance

The Link Between Sleep and Job Performance

Ryan, T. (2023, July 11). Sleep in the Military

Sleep in the Military