Influence of a conservative sleep management strategy during a solo Pacific Ocean crossing on anxiety and perceived fatigue: A case study

Abstract

The aim of this case study was to determine whether a sailor's deliberate choice of a conservative strategy to manage sleep deprivation would allow him to cross the Pacific Ocean and to minimize his state of anxiety and perceived fatigue. The participant, who had more than 10 years' sailing experience in severe conditions, was tested on a small catamaran without any living quarters during a solo Pacific Ocean crossing. Estimations of sleep hours, state anxiety, and perceived fatigue were self-reported by the sailor on a daily basis using a specific questionnaire. The most important finding is that the sailor's deliberate sleep strategy, 5.4 h sleep per day (24% less than on-shore), was enough to keep his anxiety and perceived fatigue within acceptable limits and enabled him to achieve his goal, which was the first crossing of the Pacific Ocean on a catamaran of less than 6 m. In conclusion, our results suggest that the sailor observed in the present case study was able to minimize anxiety and perceived fatigue with adequate sleep to optimize his performance, security, and to achieve his goal.

Keywords:

• Sailing
• extreme environment
• anxiety
• sleep deprivation
• modelling

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the sailor, Alessandro Di Benedetto, for his compliance in completing the questionnaire in severe weather conditions and Stéphanie Roulet for proofreading the English manuscript.