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Health GUIDANCE: P3
What are the components of the P3?
The Army P3 represents sleep, activity and nutrition—three key components that influence the physical, cognitive and emotional dominance of Soldiers, their Families, and our Retirees. While each component is independently important, optimal performance is achieved when all three are addressed simultaneously. While each component of the P3 is important, performance is optimized when you focus on all three areas together! The P3 encourages healthy behaviors that support individual Soldier performance and overall unit readiness, as well as a lifestyle of healthy behaviors for Soldiers and their Families. By increasing Soldiers’ awareness in these three areas— sleep, activity and nutrition—performance is optimized and resilience improves, thus improving health readiness of the Total Army Family.
SLEEP
FACT
Sleeping less than 5 hours for 5 days (or 1 day without sleep) correlates with a 20% decrease in cognitive ability; the equivalent decrease in decision making and memory loss associated with being legally drunk.
About 25% of all motor vehicle accidents are fatigue-related.
Soldiers who got 33 more minutes of sleep improved marksmanship and mood.
Short sleep duration(< 6 hours) is associated with new onset of mental health disorders, decreased physical endurance, and increased work-related injuries.
Your secret weapon
More sleep leads to quicker reaction times, improvements in decision making and better targeting (9% improvement in free-throw and 3-point shooting accuracy).
Fewer than 4 hours of sleep increases the chance of feeling depressed and is linked with making poor choices.
Poor sleep and sleep loss can lead to accidents and injuries on the job.
After 4 days of poor sleep, your max bench press decreases by 20 lbs.
Sleep loss can lead to laziness, less stamina, and binge drinking.
Good sleep is linked with greater weight loss.
Poor sleep is linked with eating more desserts and sweets.
Poor sleep is linked with increased mental distress, obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, asthma, stroke and arthritis.
ACTIVITY
FACT
Only 30% of Soldiers are meeting activity goals that support the development of a tactical athlete.
On any given day about 43,000 Soldiers (or about 12 BCTs) are non-deployable due to medical profiles.
Stronger, Faster, Fitter
Inactivity, smoking, being overweight and a history of injury decrease Soldier performance by about 10%.
Regular physical activity helps improve depression and anxiety. It can be as effective as medications for some people.
Physical inactivity is linked to eating fewer fruits and vegetables, drinking more sodas, and eating unhealthy snacks.
A small amount of caffeine can improve short-term muscular strength and make exercise seem less strenuous.
Sitting more than 10 hours per day results in a 34% higher chance of dying. This is true even if you exercise regularly.
Routine physical activity is linked with improved sleep.
Watching too much television and excessive computer use is linked with poor sleep.
NUTRITION
FACT
Less than 25% of Soldiers know to refuel 30-60 minutes after exercise.
Fewer than 15% of Soldiers diets meet the requirements to be considered a healthy diet.
Use the Right Fuel at the Right Time
Optimal nutrition improves performance and exercise recovery.
Carbohydrates and proteins replace energy stores and help muscles heal.
Eating healthy foods lowers the chance of depression.
Unhealthy, processed foods are linked with increased rates of depression and anxiety.
Being overweight has been related to increases in musculoskeletal injury, illness and healthcare costs versus those with normal weight in the military.
Poor nutrition and obesity are linked with poor sleep quality.
Caffeine within 6 hours of bedtime can impair sleep.
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