Physiological and psychological determinants of whole-body endurance exercise following short-term sustained operations with partial sleep deprivation.

PURPOSE: The study examined the effects of short-term field-based military training with partial sleep deprivation on whole-body endurance performance in well-trained individuals.

METHODS: Before and after a 2-day sustained operations (SUSOPS), 14 cadets performed a 15-min constant-load cycling at 65% of peak power output (PPO; CLT65 ), followed by an exhaustive constant-load trial at 85% of PPO (CLT85 ). Physiological [oxygen uptake ([Formula: see text]O2 ), heart rate (HR), mean arterial pressure (MAP), cardiac output (CO), and regional oxygenation (TOI) in the frontal cerebral cortex and vastus lateralis muscle] and psychological [effort perception (RPE), affective valence (FS), and perceived activation (FAS)] variables were monitored during exercise.

RESULTS: SUSOPS reduced time to exhaustion in CLT85 by 29.1% (p = 0.01). During the CLT65 trial, SUSOPS potentiated the exercise-induced elevations in [Formula: see text]O2 and HR (p < 0.05), and blunted MAP (p = 0.001). CO did not differ between trials. Yet, towards the end of both CLT85 trials, CO tended to decline (p ≤ 0.08); a response that occurred at an earlier stage in the SUSOPS trial. During CLT65 , SUSOPS altered neither cerebral nor muscle TOI. The SUSOPS CLT85 trial, however, was terminated at similar leg-muscle deoxygenation (p > 0.05) and lower prefrontal cortex deoxygenation (p < 0.01). SUSOPS increased RPE at submaximal intensities (p = 0.05), and suppressed FAS and FS throughout (p < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS: The present findings indicate, therefore, that a brief period of military sustained operations with partial sleep deprivation augment cardiorespiratory and psychological strain, limiting high-intensity endurance capacity.