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.