Optimizing Nutritional Strategies for Physically Demanding Occupations: Enhancing Health and Performance in Tactical Athletes
Date
2-19-2025
Faculty Mentor
Majid Koozehchian, Kinesiology; Gina Mabrey, Kinesiology
Files
Submission Type
Conference Proceeding
Location
10:45-10:55 am | Houston Cole Library, 11th Floor
Description
Please note: no video is available for this presentation.
Energy and nutritional recommendations are based on work schedules, job demands, and environment, focusing on military personnel, law enforcement officers, and firefighters. Understanding these recommendations are crucial to reduce injury, disease, and mortality in these physically demanding occupations. Energy and nutritional demands in physically demanding occupations are influenced by specific stressors of tactile athletes, identifying tactile, environmental, cognitive, and metabolic stressors. Military personnel must address multiple physiological, cognitive, and environmental factors to meet their nutritional needs. Military personnel suffer from many physiological and energy expenditure demands. Further regarding load carriage, chronic sleep loss, environmental stressors and more impacts health and performance, which should be considered when developing nutritional guidelines to help ensure a successful mission. The supply and timing of sufficient amounts of energy, macronutrients, and micronutrients promote peak occupational performance outcomes and decrease risk of disease or injury. First responders have different physiological demands due to calls for response occur sporadically, meaning law enforcement officers or firefighters may shift from a sedentary state to a state that requires maximal physical exertion. Firefighters and law officers are more at risk for cancer, CVD, and other diseases compared to the general population due to exposure to various physiological, psychological, and environmental stressors along with long-term sleep deprivation. Chronic sleep deprivation adversely affects both mental and physical health. Law enforcement officers and firefighters’ specific energy needs are challenging to plan due to the unknown occupational tasks and increased energy demand from load carriage, PPE (personal protective equipment), and environmental factors. Due to all the occupational factors and stressors for firefighters and law officers, it is recommended that they actively take steps to improve their health. Other considerations listed in the article includes implementing wellness policies, supportive food environments, healthier food system suggestions, and using community assets to offer evidence-based nutrition classes that are affordable and meaningful to improve dietary habits. It is recommended that these tactile athletes should form and maintain a nutritious eating plan to optimize performance levels. The findings suggest that these tactile athletes work in distinctive environments that challenge them mentally and physically. These challenges highlight the need for targeted nutritional and hydration strategies. Further explaining hydration, PPE can decrease convection cooling currents along with the evaporative potential of the skin, therefore, these factors increase the rate of dehydration. Proper hydration and nutrition are critical for maintaining health and performance under occupational stressors. Customized nutrition and hydration are crucial for optimizing performance, mitigating health risks, and improving the general well-being of tactical athletes.
Keywords
student research, kinesiology
Rights
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Disciplines
Kinesiology
Recommended Citation
Walker, Mollee, "Optimizing Nutritional Strategies for Physically Demanding Occupations: Enhancing Health and Performance in Tactical Athletes" (2025). JSU Student Symposium 2025. 17.
https://digitalcommons.jsu.edu/ce_jsustudentsymp_2025/17
