Here's another interesting article spotted by Ron Hoffman. I wonder if we can get the Navy to reimburse us for all those lost hours? Frank.



-----Original Message-----

From: AL JOHNSON [mailto:alrebaj@bellsouth.net]

Sent: Sunday, December 08, 2002 9:48 AM

To: DAVE BARKER

Subject: Fw: Not Quite Like Our Navy!



Subject: FW: Reveille At 6? It's Not Your Father's Navy

>

> > > Chicago Tribune

> > > November 30, 2002

> > > Pg. 1

> > >

> > > Reveille At 6? It's Not Your Father's Navy

> > >

> > > By Tom McCann, Tribune staff reporter

> > >

> > > Boot camp might seem to be the last place you'd expect a good night's

> > sleep.

> > > But among the tidy lockers and shipshape bunks at

> > > Great Lakes Naval Training Center, the normally ruthless commanders

are

> > now

> > > letting their young recruits snooze later than ever.

> > >

> > > While Army and Marine boot camps still rouse their weary trainees as

> early

> > > as 4 a.m., this year's Navy recruits sleep until 6,

> > > heeding a growing body of research that says teens are physiologically

> > wired

> > > to wake up late.

> > >

> > > Scientists at Brown University, affirming exasperated parents

> everywhere,

> > > reported a few years ago that staying in bed later is

> > > natural for adolescents and allows them to think more clearly, stay

> > > healthier and be more alert in class.

> > >

> > > Although few local school districts have pushed back their schedules,

> the

> > > Navy has become an eager, if unlikely, advocate of the

> > > research on teens' sleep patterns.

> > >

> > > "Some critics say you need to toughen up and run on no sleep in boot

> camp,

> > > but that's really outdated thinking," said Lt. Cmdr.

> > > John Wallach, spokesman for the training center near North Chicago,

the

> > > Navy's only boot camp.

> > >

> > > "Basic training isn't like [the film] `Full Metal Jacket' anymore.

It's

> > not

> > > all pushups and pullups," Wallach said. "For many of these

> > > recruits, this is the most intense academic experience of their lives,

> and

> > > we want them awake for it. They need their eight hours."

> > >

> > > Navy officials, who altered the sleep schedule in April to accommodate

> the

> > > many recruits in their late teens, plan to evaluate the

> > > change next year.

> > >

> > > The education world has been abuzz for years over Mary Carskadon's

> > research

> > > at Brown, which concluded that a person's

> > > biological clock shifts inexplicably to a late-night cycle with the

> onset

> > of

> > > puberty.

> > >

> > > The evolutionary reason for this remains unclear, but the change

> triggers

> > a

> > > delay in the brain's nightly release of the sleep-inducing

> > > chemical melatonin, and as a result many teens find it hard to hit the

> > sack

> > > until after 11 p.m.

> > >

> > > "They're not just being lazy. Their circadian rhythm--their sleep

> > > cycle--changes," said Carskadon, a psychiatry professor who for

> > > more than a decade has monitored the brain waves of slumbering teens

> > inside

> > > her Rhode Island sleep lab.

> > >

> > > "The average teenager's brain doesn't wake up until 8 or 9 in the

> morning,

> > > which is in direct conflict with schools that start at 7 and

> > > 7:30. They're getting up earlier than their bodies will allow."

> > >

> > > Snores and nodding heads

> > >

> > > You needn't have to convince most teachers, who are used to the snores

> and

> > > nodding heads in their early-morning classes. And at

> > > least two Illinois school districts that have adopted later start

> > times--in

> > > Oak Park and Rockford--report better attendance, higher

> > > grades and fewer trips to the dean's office.

> > >

> > > "More homework is being done, they're more alert in class, attendance

> has

> > > gone up more than 2 percent. Everybody loves it," said

> > > Alan Brown, superintendent of Rockford Public Schools District 205,

> which

> > > starts classes for its seven middle schools at 8:45 a.m.

> > > rather than 7:30 a.m. "You can see the results with your own eyes."

> > >

> > > Oak Park Elementary School District 97, which made the change about

four

> > > years ago, has had similar results.

> > >

> > > "It was very hard at first, coordinating our bus schedules and

> reassuring

> > > parents, but kids are finally awake," said district

> > > spokeswoman Gail Crantz.

> > >

> > > But most Illinois schools, because of intricate bus schedules and

> > jam-packed

> > > extracurricular activities, still make their teens rise

> > > before dawn.

> > >

> > > So after years of frustration with reluctant principals and school

> boards,

> > > Carskadon hardly expected an e-mail from the Navy. "I

> > > was floored," she said.

> > >

> > > But Wallach, the Navy spokesman, insisted that the delayed wakeup

isn't

> > > far-fetched. Naval basic training, after all, is a school

> > > more than anything.

> > >

> > > "With modern technology and the anti-terror effort, I think we're

> > recruiting

> > > a smarter sailor overall," he said. "They have to do

> > > more than run fast and manhandle lines. A lot of their time is in the

> > > classroom."

> > >

> > > Historically, the Navy had been the stingiest branch when it came to

> > sleep,

> > > giving recruits only 6 hours, from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m.

> > >

> > > But Navy officials, concerned about sleep deprivation, decided to

> increase

> > > recruits' "rack time" last April, bringing in naval

> > > psychologists specializing in sleep routines on submarines to work out

> the

> > > schedule.

> > >

> > > "We started them off sleeping at 9 p.m. But on tours of the barracks,

I

> > > found people tossing and turning, staring at the ceiling.

> > > They just could not fall asleep," said Lt. Jeff Dyche of the Naval

> > Submarine

> > > Medical Research Lab.

> > >

> > > The team then touted Carskadon's research to a three-star admiral, who

> > > eventually let the recruits hit the bunks at 10 p.m. and

> > > sleep until 6. Now the psychologists are conducting a yearlong study

to

> > see

> > > whether the change will improve test scores, lower the

> > > Navy's attrition rate and cut down on visits to sick bay.

> > >

> > > The Great Lakes base turns out more than 50,000 sailors a year, most

of

> > them

> > > ages 17 to 19, working jobs from cooks to sonar

> > > technicians.

> > >

> > > `Nice and cozy'

> > >

> > > At reveille, Recruit Division Cmdr. Matthew Surian rousts his 81 men

> from

> > > sleep with a yell. "Get up off that rack, boy," he barks

> > > at a straggler.

> > >

> > > Surian, considered "an enforcer" by his recruits, doesn't think much

of

> > the

> > > new sleep regimen. It makes his day more crunched for

> > > time and does little to instill discipline.

> > >

> > > "When you're on a warship, you don't know when you have to wake up,"

> > Surian

> > > said. "It's really frustrating that they get eight

> > > hours now, and they still say they're tired and don't want to do

> anything.

> > > It's all nice and cozy, but wait till they hit the fleet."

> > >

> > > Russell Jett, a 17-year-old recruit from Fayetteville, N.C., said he

had

> > > been bracing for much less rest at basic training.

> > >

> > > "I heard you'd get hardly any sleep, just a guy screaming in your face

> > > 24/7," he said. "But it's so intense. You really need that extra

> > > two hours."

> > >

> > > Other military branches haven't been as eager to consider the sleep

> > > research. Although the Air Force for years has allowed its

> > > basic training recruits between eight and nine hours of sleep, the

Army

> > and

> > > the Marines seem less willing.

> > >

> > > "I don't think we'd be interested," said Elsie Jackson, a spokeswoman

> for

> > > Ft. Benning in Georgia, one of the Army's five basic

> > > training camps.

> > >

> > > The Navy hopes the change will make a difference in its rigorous

> nine-week

> > > "sailorization process."

> > >

> > > "It's an experiment that I think will work," Wallach said. "We want to

> > turn

> > > out a better product. And if teens are hardwired to

> > > sleep late, even the Navy can't stop it."

> >