“Taking a nap can be learned”: the French army also trains… to sleep well

During this period, they will have to carry out physical exercises day and night: obstacle courses, swimming pool orientation, laser shots, driving on a computer… Courses on falling asleep techniques or sleep hygiene will also be given to them, at rest.

“To endure, decide and act in ever more demanding conditions.”

The French army makes fatigue a “real issue” in contemporary conflicts, where it is necessary “to endure, decide and act in ever more demanding conditions”. It prohibits the use of medications, unlike other countries.

Among the trainees, Marine, 32, navigator and helmsman in the French Navy. She regularly goes on missions, which last from one to six months. On ships, soldiers are posted on watch. “The first two months we are in euphoria, happy to leave, everything is going well,” she says. But “fatigue accumulates and grows”, making sailors “less attentive to details and sometimes more irritable”, even if the nap is a sanctified ritual on ships.

“Today, someone who goes to sleep is not seen as weak.”

Today, “as in other professional environments”, “discussions around sleep are more and more uninhibited in the army”. “Someone who goes to sleep is not seen as weak,” continues the chief doctor at the Armed Forces Biomedical Research Institute (Irba), who prefers to remain anonymous. Several factors degrade the quality of sleep for military personnel: frequent night work, impact of missions and “opex” (external operations) in very hot or cold environments, nights in uncomfortable environments…

Despite everything, there remains a “lack of knowledge” in the military community on the subject, assures Fabien Sauvet, professor at Irba, during a recent conference at the Military Academy of Defense Sports, located in Fontainebleau, insisting on the interest in training. With high-intensity conflicts, combat phases where soldiers get little or no sleep are expected to “last, repeat themselves,” he continues.

The use of medication strictly regulated

On the other hand, France has made the “strong” choice to strictly regulate the use of medication by the military, says the doctor. A 2015 ministerial instruction specifies that soldiers can use “sustained release caffeine” tablets, which provide caffeine delivery for 4 to 6 hours, useful for pilots who do not have access to a coffee maker for example.

Modafinil, an “awakening” drug used in the treatment of narcolepsy and distributed to French soldiers during the 1991 Gulf War, can only be used in “exceptional survival situations,” he adds. “Some pilots have them in their ejection seats, for example.” Sleep medications can also be prescribed in certain specific cases, if you need to sleep during the day, for example.

In other armies, the use of medicines is assumed. Recently, media reported on the use of Modafinil by Israeli pilots to carry out long flight missions at the start of the war in Iran.

Others are reviewing their strategy, like the Ukrainians. After four years of war launched by Russia in 2022, they believe that the “risks of taking these drugs are greater than the benefits”, explains Professor Sauvet. Increased risk of illness, injuries, but also bad decisions, he explains. “Major” undesirable effects, such as risks of “addiction and psychiatric disorders”, can also appear in the long term.

Work is also underway to ensure that memory is less impaired by sleep debt. Countries are thus replacing an hour of weekly physical activity with cognitive training, underlines Professor Sauvet, which can be valuable for pilots using complex weapons systems, or reservists without regular training.