Conclusions
Research in practice can be four-fold. 1) Research can support existing practices. 2) Research can debunk existing practices. 3) Research can suggest modifications to existing practices. 4) Research can help develop new practices and policies.
By reading this series, you have taken the first step to better yourself and your department. While reading, you were exposed to the basics of sleep physiology, acute and chronic effects of poor sleep quality and sleep deprivation, and various ways to take corrective action. You and your department can use this research to begin conversations to better sleep and help make evidence decision making.
You might have questions regarding the material covered in this series. Great! We at FDSleep encourage you to ask questions and use research to better yourself, your organization, and the fire and emergency services so we all can strive to make evidence-based decisions. Visit our References page to examine different research articles.
Limitations of Sleep Research in Health
Researchers face many challenges when conducting a study. In sleep research, it is difficult draw conclusive inferences because sleep cannot be truly isolated as independent and/or dependent variables.1 The human body is a complex organism and is hard to isolate sleep without affected (or being influenced) any other human system and body function. Sleep in the fire and emergency services is limited compared to other occupations and fields. Thus, research is mainly adopted from others to fit our field.
References
- Majde, J., and J. Krueger. 2005. “Links between the Innate Immune System and Sleep,” The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology 116(6):1188-1198. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaci.2005.08.005