What is the sleep, fatigue and recovery biometrics programme?
Over the past two years, Oscar Kilo has been working with Merseyside Police, Liverpool John Moores University and international subject matter experts to develop a programme which harnesses the latest in biometric technology, data solutions and online learning.
It is a 120-day programme which helps officers and staff build a unique and personalised view of their sleep, fatigue and recovery levels.
It has been developed across a number of pilot forces with over 700 officers and staff from a range of roles having taken part so far, including individuals working in firearms, child abuse and serious sexual assault teams, contact management and Crime Scene Investigators.
In May 2024, we are now entering the third phase of this programme with 27 forces across the UK now participating.
Why we have developed this this programme
We know from our national wellbeing surveys that 65% of police officers in the UK get less than six hours sleep each night. A further research study carried out by Surrey University and Washington State University Sleep Centre identified that over 50% of those who took part had a likely diagnosable sleep disorder.
Sleep and fatigue are both huge issues in policing and can be the catalyst for a number of other issues affecting physical and mental health. Not only that, but they are also highly stigmatised and often misunderstood, so we wanted to put something in place that:
- Provides people with a personalised solution to help them better understand their own health and wellbeing.
- Gives them the data which will provide them with an accurate picture of their sleep, fatigue and recovery rates.
- increases their awareness of why they may be feeling tired, stressed or anxious.
- provides educational resources to help people improve the areas where they may need help.
Wearable devices and biometric data are a proven way to do this. They put the individual in control and provide a unique and personalised assessment of how their body is working.
- This is a completely voluntary programme.
- It is all done on an individual basis, through personal devices – not on force equipment.
- Only participants see their own data
- We (The NPWS) don’t look at individual data sets, only the overarching themes and trends across user groups.
Not only will this programme have huge benefits for the individuals who take part, it will also help forces understand the impacts of sleep, fatigue, and recovery for their officers and staff.
The overarching trends based on high level anonymised data sets and themes will also create a clearer national picture which means we (at a local and national level) can make more informed decisions and tailor health and wellbeing strategies and interventions to provide more meaningful support for everyone who works in policing.
How it works
Each participating force has a co-ordinator who will manage the programme locally.
The co-ordinator attends a two-day accredited coaching training programme run by the National Police Wellbeing Service.
This co-ordinator will invite up to 200 people who they think are in need of support to access an online educational programme. This online programme introduces you to the power of biometrics combined with innovative sleep science education so you can start to understand what works for you.
This online programme has been developed with a leading, internationally renowned sleep and recovery expert, Nick Littlehales.
It includes a whole host of online resources and videos from Nick himself that guide you through everything you need to understand about optimising your mental and physical recovery through sleep.
Based on his R90T programme, you’ll learn about your circadian rhythm, chronotypes, how your body recovers during sleep, optimal sleep environments and how to redefine your behaviours.
Wearable devices
Depending on funding, a number of wearable devices will be provided to those most in need of additional support to help improve their sleep and recovery.
This wearable device (a BioStrap) measures heart rate variability, respiratory rates, sleep time and sleep type which give a real-time insight into how your body is working. It’s not a fitness tracker - it is 100% focused on sleep fatigue and recovery.
Those who take part with the BioStrap, will be provided with support and assistance to understand the data and what you can do to use the device to help you improve the areas where you may be struggling.
Due to having limited numbers of the devices, a limited number of people will be selected to use a wearable device per force. However, everyone who registers their interest and completes a questionnaire will be given access to the comprehensive online educational resources.
What happens if you’re selected to use the wearable technology?
Those who are chosen to use a wearable device are invited to an onboarding session. This is where they will be provided with the BioStrap device and introduced to the programme and what it entails.
This session will also explain;
- how to wear the device, charge it and download the accompanying app so they can see their information.
- how to interpret the data that is gathered from the devices into the app
- how to access and use the educational material
- how the data is collected and used
The devices are worn for the duration of the 120-day programme. The first 30 days will be used to baseline the participants current state and help them get a real picture of their sleep, fatigue and recovery rates.
After the baseline has been gathered, the participant then uses the educational resources to make adjustments and over the course of the next 90 days, the devices will measure any changes and provide them with scores on a scale of 1 – 100 against activity, recovery and sleep.
By the end of the programme, participants will understand more about themselves, their health data and will have been through all the education resources to equip themselves with the knowledge to be able to continue their progress independently.
By understanding how to understand their health data, even after the programme has ended, if they have their own wearable devices such as an Apple Watch, Garmin, FitBit etc, they will be able to continue to track and monitor their health and continue to feel the benefits long afterwards.
Understanding yourself in terms of rest, recovery and sleep can have much bigger impact on everything...and by being more aware and actively looking at my rest and focus on myself makes me a better person...and manager.
Melissa, senior police staff
I had been ill in bed for five days but kept using the device. When it was explained how bad my readings were, I watched as they gradually improved and it encouraged me to eat and sleep better to make them return to normal.
Anonymous, senior police detective
Every morning I download my sleep data and use this to assess how I will approach my day or how hard I will train. The sleep assessment and recovery score has been so useful in understanding what my body needs and how I feel in relation to it.
Amanda, senior police officer
Message from our Service Director, Andy Rhodes
"This programme is intended to strike the right balance between personal and organisational responsibility. The wearable technology builds a unique and personalised view of measures such as heart rate variability, respiratory rates, and sleep time and type for example, which is the holy grail of health intervention - personalisation.
"It is a 120-day programme which not only provides personalised insights but gives access at scale to educational support and a community where people can find their own solutions by better understanding the choices they make and how their work life impacts upon their health. At the same time, it allows us to understand more about reported issues such as fatigue, burnout and recovery (which is usually only collected retrospectively via surveys or specific research) so both locally, and nationally we can improve the support we provide to officers and staff in this area.
"It has been designed with the involvement of operational police officers and staff so we can ensure this is going to provide the right data and information, that it is bespoke to their unique needs and most importantly, that they can trust it.”