Efforts to build soldiers’ performance on the battlefield must begin in garrison, a panel of experts said during a Hot Topic hosted by the Association of the U.S. Army.

Good habits must start at home, particularly as studies have shown that sleep, mindfulness, physical fitness and spiritual wellness contribute to soldiers’ ability to get to the fight, stay in the fight and, if they are wounded, return to the fight more quickly, the panelists said during a session earlier this year titled “Holistic Health and the Resilient Soldier War.”

“We often think about getting ready for the fight, but we need to hardwire it in garrison,” said Brig. Gen. Deydre Teyhen, then-director of the Defense Health Network, National Capital Region.

Teyhen is now commanding general of Medical Readiness Command, Pacific, and director of the Defense Health Network, Indo-Pacific.

As a physical therapist by training, Teyhen said, the earlier a patient is seen and treated for a musculoskeletal injury, the sooner they can recover. The same principles apply to soldiers.

Building good habits such as getting quality and sufficient sleep, exercising regularly and building mental health are critical before a soldier is deployed. “When your pulse is high and you’re getting shot at, you descend to the level of your training,” said Col. Brian Koyn, then-senior chaplain for the XVIII Airborne Corps and Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

It’s never too late to start cultivating those good habits, said Koyn, who’s now the command chaplain for U.S. Army Europe and Africa. “From a chaplain’s perspective, it’s like a Chinese proverb, [that says] the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, but the second-best time is today,” Koyn said.

Teyhen agreed, adding that the Army’s Holistic Health and Fitness program, which puts teams of nutritionists, physical therapists, strength and conditioning coaches and other experts with units, is “the secret sauce.”

“It’s all about performance,” she said. “How do we keep [soldiers] them in the fight, and if they have to leave the fight, how do we get them back into the fight as quickly as possible?”

During operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, 45% of medically evacuated troops did not need additional health care once they arrived in the United States, Teyhen said. “We can’t afford to pull people from theater who don’t need additional health care,” she said. “We really have to give thought to how do we optimize it, so we keep people in the fight, and when they need to take a knee, we turn them quickly.”

Physically fit soldiers perform better on the battlefield but so do mentally fit and mindful soldiers, the panelists said. Mentally fit and mindful soldiers have better grit, sense of purpose and decision-making skills, Teyhen said. They also are more able to control their mindset and physical reactions to high-stress environments, said Chris Frankel, head of performance innovation for BeaverFit.

Studies have shown that elite professional athletes have better control of their heart rate variability, Teyhen said. She used as an example a tennis player who runs to hit a shot but then brings down their heart rate so they can assess where the ball is going to go next.

“When you think about that from our lens, that’s what we want with our soldiers, that they can actually take in what’s happening in a large-scale combat operation,” she said. “Yes, they may have to rush to contact, and then they have to be able to take a breath, get their heart rate down, reassess where they’re at and make the next decision.”

Elite professional athletes also can relax their muscles and control how their bodies react to stress, Frankel said. “This comes back to the whole idea of the central nervous system … and understanding what those signs and symptoms feel like, and instead of panicking, I now have better control over my physiology.”

As the Army continues to grow the Holistic Health and Fitness program across the force, every element—mental, sleep, nutritional, physical and spiritual readiness—is important, Teyhen said. “They all go hand in hand,” she said.