Operation early‐bird: Investigating altered light exposure in military barracks on sleep and performance—a placebo‐controlled study

Abstract

SummaryThe manipulation of light exposure in the evening has been shown to modulate sleep, and may be beneficial in a military setting where sleep is reported to be problematic. This study investigated the efficacy of low‐temperature lighting on objective sleep measures and physical performance in military trainees. Sixty‐four officer‐trainees (52 male/12 female, mean ± SD age: 25 ± 5 years) wore wrist‐actigraphs for 6 weeks during military training to quantify sleep metrics. Trainee 2.4‐km run time and upper‐body muscular‐endurance were assessed before and after the training course. Participants were randomly assigned to either: low‐temperature lighting (LOW, n = 19), standard‐temperature lighting with a placebo “sleep‐enhancing” device (PLA, n = 17), or standard‐temperature lighting (CON, n = 28) groups in their military barracks for the duration of the course. Repeated‐measures ANOVAs were run to identify significant differences with post hoc analyses and effect size calculations performed where indicated. No significant interaction effect was observed for the sleep metrics; however, there was a significant effect of time for average sleep duration, and small benefits of LOW when compared with CON (d = 0.41–0.44). A significant interaction was observed for the 2.4‐km run, with the improvement in LOW (Δ92.3 s) associated with a large improvement when compared with CON (Δ35.9 s; p = 0.003; d = 0.95 ± 0.60), but not PLA (Δ68.6 s). Similarly, curl‐up improvement resulted in a moderate effect in favour of LOW (Δ14 repetitions) compared with CON (Δ6; p = 0.063; d = 0.68 ± 0.72). Chronic exposure to low‐temperature lighting was associated with benefits to aerobic fitness across a 6‐week training period, with minimal effects on sleep measures.