During the long voyage, navy officers and soldiers are more likely to suffer from insomnia, seasickness, solar dermatitis and other diseases due to environmental impact. Understanding the etiology and development process of these diseases can help officers and soldiers accurately judge their own conditions and take preventive measures in time. Experts from the First Affiliated Hospital of Naval Medical University sorted out some health protection knowledge during the long voyage, hoping to help naval officers and soldiers better adapt to the offshore environment.

one

During the long voyage, officers and soldiers are prone to insomnia under the combined effect of wind and waves, noise, pressure and other factors.

Insomnia is a subjective experience that affects daytime social function because sleep quality or time cannot meet normal physiological requirements due to difficulty in falling asleep and maintaining sleep. If it takes more than 30 minutes to fall asleep, more than 30 minutes to fall asleep again after waking up, 30 minutes earlier than usual to wake up, and these symptoms occur more than half of the time every week, affecting the normal work and life of the next day, it can be judged as insomnia.

Long term insomnia will damage physical and mental health, which will not only lead to decreased immunity and memory, but also psychological problems such as nervousness, irritability, anxiety, irritability, pain and depression. If insomnia occurs during long voyage, the following methods can be used to adjust it.

Reject "sleep anxiety". Some comrades in arms are very anxious when they have bad sleep, which will lead to insomnia instead. In fact, a short period of poor sleep will not have too much impact on the body. If poor sleep occasionally occurs, you can improve your sleep by meditating before sleep and listening to light music.

Create a suitable sleeping environment. Before sleeping, officers and soldiers can choose appropriate ventilation and lighting conditions, adjust the rest posture and pillow and quilt height. The comrade in arms with sleep disorder can try to wear noise reduction earphones, light masks, etc. to help improve their sleep quality. Try to keep your brain calm before going to bed, and don't want to interfere with sleep.

Keep good exercise habits. Exercise can help reduce the difficulty of falling asleep and deepen sleep. It should be noted that you should not take strenuous exercise within 2 hours before going to bed. Vigorous exercise before going to bed will raise the body temperature, resulting in delay in falling asleep and frequent waking up during sleep.

Point massage. Massaging Laogong, Anmian and other acupoints can help sleep. Before going to bed, press and knead Laogong Point and Anmian Point with your finger joints. It is recommended to knead for about 1 minute each time.

If insomnia still exists after the application of the above methods, you can take appropriate sleep promoting drugs under the guidance of a doctor.

two

Seasickness is one of the most common symptoms of officers and soldiers during long voyage. During the voyage, affected by the wind and waves, the swaying range of the ship may suddenly increase, which will easily lead to seasickness. The main symptoms are dizziness, nausea, loss of appetite, etc. In serious cases, vomiting, panic, chest tightness, a large number of cold sweats, and cold limbs may also occur. In addition, the narrow and closed environment of the ship and poor air circulation are also likely to induce seasickness reaction.

Seasickness is a symptom of imbalance. The balance of the human body is mainly maintained by the vestibule, vision and proprioception system under the command of the brain. During the voyage of the ship, the vestibular receptors in the ears sense the information of ups and downs, back and forth, and left and right swaying, and send a signal to the brain that "the human body is moving". But in the cabin, the objects seen by the eyes are relatively static, which will send a signal to the brain that "the human body is in a static state". The brain that receives the conflict signal will react maladjustedly, which will lead to seasickness.

The severity of seasickness reaction is related to the sensitivity of vestibular receptors. The more sensitive the vestibular function is, the more subtle the motion of the hull can be felt, and the more likely the seasickness reaction will occur.

The key to preventing seasickness is to make vestibular sense and vision consistent. If seasickness is likely to occur during navigation, the following methods can be used to alleviate it: walk onto the deck and look far away, so that the visual and vestibular signals sent to the brain are consistent; Stay in the middle of the ship with relatively small shaking, and try not to stay in the bow and stern; Turn your attention by closing your eyes, listening to music, chatting and other ways to relax your brain; Eat light and easily digestible food to avoid overeating; In case of seasickness, the mouth can contain some dried tangerine peel, plum blossom, etc., or apply some essential balm to Renzhong acupoint and temple.

Traditional Chinese medicine believes that seasickness is mostly caused by weakness of the spleen and stomach. When seasickness occurs, try rubbing the palm of your hand and sticking it to your temple. First rub it clockwise for 10-20 times, and then rub it counterclockwise for 10-20 times. If there are conditions for acupuncture, acupuncture points such as Baihui, Neiguan, Zusanli and Hegu can be used to strengthen the spleen and refresh the brain. Ginger has the functions of sweating, relieving superficiality, warming stomach and stopping vomiting. Those who are prone to seasickness can also stick ginger on their navel or take ginger slices in their mouth. If the symptoms of seasickness are serious, you should take drugs such as dimenhydrinate and cinnarizine under the guidance of a doctor. It should be noted that if severe vomiting occurs, sugar and salt water should be supplemented in time to prevent dehydration.

three

When officers and soldiers pass through the sea area with strong ultraviolet ray, they are more likely to suffer from solar dermatitis.

Solar dermatitis, also known as acute sunburn, is an acute inflammatory reaction of human skin to solar ultraviolet radiation. The ultraviolet rays in sunlight can be divided into three types according to the wavelength: long wave ultraviolet rays (UVA, 320~400nm), medium wave ultraviolet rays (UVB, 280~320nm) and short wave ultraviolet rays (UVC, 180~280nm). UVA can penetrate the skin to reach the dermis, affecting the melanin production of the skin. Moreover, UVA can also destroy dermal collagen fibers, causing skin wrinkles, telangiectasia and other photoaging phenomena. UVB is easily absorbed by the skin, which can cause sunburn, redness and tingling. When the short wave ultraviolet ray passes through the atmosphere, it will be completely absorbed by the ozone layer.

Officers and soldiers exposed to intense ultraviolet light for a long time are prone to acute sunburn. If not handled in time, it may also induce serious skin diseases. If the skin is only slightly red after sunburn, without blisters, pain and other symptoms, cold compress the affected part with a wet towel. After a period of time, the Pan Red Cross Society faded away on its own. If sunburn dermatitis symptoms such as erythema, burning and itching have occurred, it is appropriate to apply weak and medium effect steroid hormone ointment, such as dexamethasone cream, triamcinolone acetonide, etc. If there is redness and swelling at the sunburn, but no liquid exudation, local external calamine lotion can be used to reduce swelling. If blisters appear on the affected part, gauze can be used to wrap it to prevent bacterial infection. If the sunburn symptoms are serious and the itching is obvious, you can take antihistamines such as cetirizine, loratadine or ebastine as instructed by your doctor.

How to prevent and treat solar dermatitis? If officers and soldiers need to be exposed to ultraviolet light for a long time, they should wear protective clothing and hats, and apply sunscreen on the exposed parts of the skin. The shading effect of sunscreen can be expressed by sun protection index (SPF). The higher the SPF index, the stronger the ability of sunburn. Regular outdoor activities generally require the use of sunscreen above SPF15; Sunscreen above SPF30 can be used for light sensitive people or when exposed to high intensity sunlight. It is recommended that comrades in arms should apply sunscreen 30 minutes before outdoor training and reapply it every 2 hours. In addition, training time should be arranged reasonably. The sunlight is the strongest from 10 a.m. to 14 p.m. every day. It is suggested that comrades in arms try to avoid outdoor activities during this period. (Zhang Hailing, Bi Xinling)

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