Evaluation of Changes in Sleep Efficiency Among PIC DU MIDI Staff Between Nights Spent at Home and Nights Spent in the Workplace Under High Altitude Conditions

Sleep organization and cardiorespiratory parameters are disrupted in extreme conditions such as high altitude. The pathophysiology of medical problems related to acute high-altitude exposure is partially understood, but sleep quality indicators are very rarely measured under these conditions. This lack of information is even more pronounced among employees subjected to cyclical exposure to high-altitude hypoxic stress, as is the case for the employees at the Pic du Midi. These 32 employees regularly report to their occupational physician difficulties in managing their sleep disorders, struggling to distinguish symptoms from objective changes in their sleep cycles. Among them, 13 are on call at the summit of the Pic du Midi (2,877 m), while 19 work there during the day and return home to a lower altitude at night to sleep. The investigators also wish to measure structural changes in sleep and its cardiorespiratory parameters using polysomnography in these 13 employees, comparing nights spent at home at normal altitude with those spent at the summit of the Pic du Midi. These changes will also be compared to those of a group of 19 employees who do not sleep at high altitude..