Attività operativa dei piloti dell'A. M. I. Nel recente conflitto sui balcani: effetti sul sonno.

It is well known that during stressful situations, as intense military operations, a sleep debt and/or an impairment of sleep quality can easily be present. In such conditions, detrimental effects on vigilance and mood can accumulate, leading to increase errors and to decrease flight safety. In this study sleep, vigilance, activation and mood were evaluated by means of an Anamnestic Sleep Questionnaire (ASQ) and a very handling Sleep Log (SL) that was daily filled in during 10 consecutive days. Both ASQ and SL required pilots to estimate: sleep onset characteristics, awakening characteristics, duration and quality of sleep. Data from the ASQ referred to the three months before the beginning of the Balcanic war. The SL referred to the previous 24 hours. From SL were obtained data from three war-conditions: Not-Flight (NF), Flight in Hostile Territory (FHT), Flight in Hostile Territory using Firearms (FHTF). Data from these conditions were compared with those obtained from ASQ e referred to a Previous War Condition (PWC). Results show that during war operations there was a general impairment of the sleep-wake characteristics considered. This impairment was more pronounced in the FHT compared to the other two war conditions.