Photo By Mike Walters | SGT Will Hertzman, sleeps with a sleep headband as part of a sleep study on March 11,...... read more read more
The Department of Defense’s largest sleep research lab, the Sleep Research Center at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, is studying how new technology can help soldiers mitigate the negative effects of sleep loss.
Their latest project, led by researcher Dr. John Hughes, uses a prototype device called a sleep headband that applies a painless electrical current to the surface of the scalp during rest. The device has been shown to provide benefits to those who aren’t getting enough sleep.
Early studies demonstrated that people who get limited sleep suffer performance declines the next day, but those who wore the sleep headband performed significantly better than those who didn’t wear it. The SRC took this technology and applied it to the military.
“It is very well-documented that Warfighters, especially those who are deployed, don’t get enough sleep” said Dr. Hughes on the study’s origin. “Sleep loss creates decrements in performance, so enhancing the sleep they do get using the sleep headband provides a huge benefit.”
Addressing this challenge is a key focus of the SRC. The team not only studies sleep and fatigue in military populations but also develops solutions to improve performance under sleep-deprived conditions.
“People often mistake the Sleep Research Center for a sleep medicine clinic,” said the SRC Chief, Dr. Tracy Jill Doty. “Sleep medicine clinics diagnose diseases like sleep apnea. The Sleep Research Center is a sleep research lab integrated into the DoD – we answer critical scientific questions and create products for the military, both knowledge products and physical products.”
The SRC has been working towards a wearable sleep aid for decades and found tremendous success with the application of the sleep headband to military populations.
“The headband is exciting because it’s so simple to use and it has real benefits.” explained Dr. Hughes. “In the case of large-scale combat operations, the sleep headband will provide fantastic benefits to these service members: improve force health, optimize warfighter readiness, and increase lethality.”
For more information, or to join this study, visit https://wrair.health.mil/Join-a-Study/Sleep-Research-Center/.
| Date Taken: | 03.18.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 03.18.2025 15:29 |
| Story ID: | 493125 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 163 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, WRAIR’s Sleep Research Center testing benefits of sleep headband for warfighters, by Zeke Gonzalez, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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