War and Sleep (15)

In the article "Sleep Difficult in a War Zone" by Todd Neale, a study was done to determine if the sleep of current deployed personnel or personnel that had been deployed in the past was affected in comparison to personnel that hadn't yet been deployed.  The result showed that those who are currently deployed in  Iraq or Afghanistan, or those who have already completed a deployment are getting less sleep than those who had not yet been deployed.  Similarly, the groups of personnel who had experienced deployment reported more trouble sleeping, and "... the relationships seemed to be modified by both exposure to combat and by mental health problems -- including post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression -- during follow-up."  Now researchers are questioning whether sleep (or the lack of it) plays a role in the development of these mental health problems.  If so, then the promotion of a healthy sleep schedule among military personnel might be beneficial to those deployed and those who have completed a deployment.
Based off of everything we have discussed in class about the negative effects sleep deprivation has on both physical and mental health, I am not surprised by these results and the concern of the researchers.  In my opinion, I believe a healthy sleep schedule would greatly benefit all military personnel, especially those currently in combat.  Realistically, I know that sleeping while in combat would naturally be hard to come by, but if there was some way to improve this somehow, I think signs of depression and PTSD after completing a deployment could be limited to an extent.  I don't think sleep can cure all cases of depression and PTSD, but I do believe it could help fairly significantly in the long run.