SLEEP (Sleep Loss Effects On Everyday Performance) Model.

Sleep management affects human productivity, safety, health, and efficiency in the performance of various tasks. Most people seem to be unaware of the value and role of sleep and the various risks that can occur when less than desired amounts of sleep are obtained. People especially seem to be unaware of the dangers associated with the long-term accumulation of reduced sleep. Thus, a need exists to provide tools to enhance sleep education. This paper presents an overview of a sleep simulation and sleep education tool, the SLEEP (Sleep Loss Effects on Everyday Performance) Model. The SLEEP Model includes alcohol and caffeine along with sleep as variables that affect performance. Assumptions and modeling concepts are discussed, and the major mathematical functions are presented as part of this paper. The unique features of the SLEEP Model are: 1) it is based on conservation of REM sleep; 2) it uses a ratio of current day's sleep to sleep need for the day to adjust performance predictors; 3) it is designed for easy input and output of information; and 4) it has a wide range of applications, including sleep, alcohol, and caffeine management. Generally the mathematical functions used in the SLEEP Model fit the calibration data set with an R2 of 0.8 or better and have statistical significance at least at the 0.05 probability level. Several figures of simulated results are presented with a discussion of references that report similar measured results. The SLEEP Model appears to be a practical tool to teach people the value of proper sleep management.