HUMAN ADAPTATION TO EXTREME CONDITIONS OF ACTIVITY. PHYSIOLOGICAL MECHANISMS (STRUCTURAL TRACE OF ADAPTATION)

The development of effective methods of adapting a person to extreme living conditions is very relevant today due to the constantly increasing prevalence of stress provoking factors. The professional activity of employees of a number of specialties takes place in unique conditions associated with a danger to life (firefighters, rescuers, miners, pilots), a high psychological “price” of decisions made (managers, operators of weapons systems), a high rate of activity, monotony of work with a long wait for a useful signal (train drivers), combining actions of various purposes in one type of activity, processing large amounts of information. Man, as part of the animal world, also has adaptive functions that are programmed in the genetic code as a factor of self preservation. Many of these functions are implemented automatically, without the participation of conscious levels of behavior regulation. This article is an attempt to interest the broad masses of the population in the problem of adaptation. The authors analyze the research literature of leading domestic and foreign experts in this field.