JBSA-FORT SAM HOUSTON –
The Army Medical Department Center and School, Health Readiness Center of Excellence, Graduate School staff and faculty at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston welcomed former faculty member Col. Deydre Teyhen, who returned to the school May 18 to present the latest information regarding promoting readiness though the Performance Triad.
Teyhen serves as the director, Health and Performance Triad in the office of the Army Surgeon General.
The Army relies on people more than any other service and the Performance Triad is an investment in the Soldier System, Teyhen said.
She also noted that Soldiers are challenged by what is termed the three-block war: combat operations, peace enforcement and humanitarian operations. The success of the Soldier requires building resiliency and maintaining health and the Performance Triad focus on sleep, nutrition and activity drives good health, injury prevention and performance optimization.
Exercise has been shown to improve cognitive ability and decrease depression and anxiety by 75 percent.
Regarding nutrition, Teyhen said that research indicates 17- to 24-year old Soldiers are more likely to concentrate on performance, not on health, so the concept of the application of the triad promotes a healthy life style that improves performance.
Teyhen noted during World War II, it took a pool of 2 million Americans to qualify 1 million Americans for service. Today, to qualify an equal number for service, the pool would need to be 4 million. Obesity is the big problem.
On average, 34 percent of caloric intake in American diets is sugar, which leads to problems with overweight and improper nourishment. No state has an obesity rate lower than 20 percent.
Reinforcing her point, Teyhen said that spaghetti sauce in America has three times the amount of sugar than spaghetti sauce in Europe. In the military, 12 percent are clinically obese, less than 40 percent are at fighting weight and 13.5 percent are medically non-deployable. For the military, the concern is that an obese person is 47 percent more likely to be injured or need healthcare.
Teyhen said that changing our environment has a lot to do with making the healthy choice the easier choice, both in our homes and in the dining facilities. She suggested that coming home and entering the house through the kitchen is an opportunity to overeat and placing fruits and vegetables in the refrigerator at eye level is better than in storage bins.
Sleep, she said, is another factor impacting performance. According to Teyhen, the brain cleans itself at night and consolidates our learning experiences.
While 71 percent of Americans claim to get between seven and eight hours of sleep, only 41 percent of Soldiers report an equal amount of sleep in their lifestyle. Teyhen said that five days of sleep getting five hours of sleep or less is the cumulative equivalent of a cognitive decrease equal to 0.08 alcohol content impairment. Statistics reinforce that 25 percent of motor vehicle accidents are due to fatigue.
For more information about the Soldier Guide and the Family Guide to the Performance Triad go to:
http://armymedicine.mil/Pages/performance-triad.aspx.