A többműszakos munkavégzés biztonsági kihívásai a rend- és honvédelmi szerveknél
Authors: Szakács Zoltán 
Published: August 2022

Összefoglalás. A krónikus napközbeni aluszékonyság és a vele járó
figyelemzavar igen gyakori panasz, amely jelentősen rontja a munkavégzés
teljesítményét, az életminőséget, összetett mechanizmus révén gátolja a mentális
funkciókat, gyakran vezethet – munkahelyi és közlekedési balesetek okozójaként –
fatális következményhez is. A krónikus napközbeni aluszékonyság mint panasz
mögött a krónikus alvás depriváció mellett az elsődleges alvászavarokat kell
keresnünk.

Summary. Police and military service, at the appropriate level
of care, require neuropsychological functions from the service provider such as
constant vigilance, sustained attention and concentration, and the compulsion to
make quick, responsible decisions. However, the service is often accompanied by
difficult external conditions, such as monotony, harsh weather factors, or shift
work, which place a heavy burden on the service provider.

In both police and military service, in addition to a varied shift schedule, we
often expect special mental and physical performance from those serving.
However, a multi-shift schedule breaks the circadian rhythm of service, causing
metabolic and hormonal changes, and can have a profound effect on one’s behavior
and one can remain deeply inferior to oneself during a given performance. Not
everyone is adaptable to such conditions, especially those with primary sleep
disorders. Therefore, it is particularly important to recognize those suffering
from primary sleep disorders among multi-shift workers. People with severe
obstructive sleep apnea have an abnormally high degree of daytime sleep and
their attention, concentration, vigilance, work and cognitive performance
decline significantly compared to their peers in multi-shift work
conditions.

Much of the experience gained in the field of sleep disorders becomes a practice
in the field of occupational health. One of our main goals was to make the
diagnosis, treatment and screening of diseases belonging to this professional
and scientific topic.

The Military Health Sleep Diagnostic Laboratory is tasked with screening out
dyssomnia sufferers from performing under special multi-shift conditions.

During military service, in modern warfare, the importance of multi-shift work
schedules, the continuous standby system, and work periods of different than
usual duration and content have increased.

All of this has significantly changed the demands on human performance during
waking hours and the role of sleep in regeneration, restoration, preparation. In
parallel with these requirements, unwanted drowsiness and exhaustion also
increased in everyday work, and manifested itself in errors and accidents during
operational actions.

Sleep deprivation fundamentally affects cognitive areas such as speed of
thinking, decision making, divergent thinking, executive functions, emotions,
understanding humor, memory, morality, risk taking, and alertness. A number of
special functions are associated with the prefrontal cortex. Judgment, decision
making, impulse control, attention, and visual association are related to this
part of the cerebral cortex. This area of the cortex is very vulnerable and, as
a result of sleep deprivation, a disturbance of the functions represented here
can be observed.

Sleep disorders severely and often unexpectedly limit mental and physical
performance. They can cause serious confusion during training, exercise, and
tactical and operational activities, so knowledge of them is important for
prevention, interpretation, and effective therapy. Sleep disorders can occur in
greater numbers due to the special conditions of police and military
service.