Can cognitive activities during breaks in repetitive manual work accelerate recovery from fatigue? A controlled experiment.

Neurophysiologic theory and some empirical evidence suggest that fatigue caused by physical work may be more effectively recovered during "diverting" periods of cognitive activity than during passive rest; a phenomenon of great interest in working life. We investigated the extent to which...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales:	Svend Erik Mathiassen, David M Hallman, Eugene Lyskov, Staffan Hygge
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2014
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/87529f5473bb475d960c757dc0c8c27b
Etiquetas:	Agregar Etiqueta Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!

id	oai:doaj.org-article:87529f5473bb475d960c757dc0c8c27b
record_format	dspace
spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:87529f5473bb475d960c757dc0c8c27b2021-11-25T05:54:30ZCan cognitive activities during breaks in repetitive manual work accelerate recovery from fatigue? A controlled experiment.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0112090https://doaj.org/article/87529f5473bb475d960c757dc0c8c27b2014-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0112090https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203Neurophysiologic theory and some empirical evidence suggest that fatigue caused by physical work may be more effectively recovered during "diverting" periods of cognitive activity than during passive rest; a phenomenon of great interest in working life. We investigated the extent to which development and recovery of fatigue during repeated bouts of an occupationally relevant reaching task was influenced by the difficulty of a cognitive activity between these bouts. Eighteen male volunteers performed three experimental sessions, consisting of six 7-min bouts of reaching alternating with 3 minutes of a memory test differing in difficulty between sessions. Throughout each session, recordings were made of upper trapezius muscle activity using electromyography (EMG), heart rate and heart rate variability (HRV) using electrocardiography, arterial blood pressure, and perceived fatigue (Borg CR10 scale and SOFI). A test battery before, immediately after and 1 hour after the work period included measurements of maximal shoulder elevation strength (MVC), pressure pain threshold (PPT) over the trapezius muscles, and a submaximal isometric contraction. As expected, perceived fatigue and EMG amplitude increased during the physical work bouts. Recovery did occur between the bouts, but fatigue accumulated throughout the work period. Neither EMG changes nor recovery of perceived fatigue during breaks were influenced by cognitive task difficulty, while heart rate and HRV recovered the most during breaks with the most difficult task. Recovery of perceived fatigue after the 1 hour work period was also most pronounced for the most difficult cognitive condition, while MVC and PPT showed ambiguous patterns, and EMG recovered similarly after all three cognitive protocols. Thus, we could confirm that cognitive tasks between bouts of fatiguing physical work can, indeed, accelerate recovery of some factors associated with fatigue, even if benefits may be moderate and some responses may be equivocal. Our results encourage further research into combinations of physical and mental tasks in an occupational context.Svend Erik MathiassenDavid M HallmanEugene LyskovStaffan HyggePublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 9, Iss 11, p e112090 (2014)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Svend Erik Mathiassen David M Hallman Eugene Lyskov Staffan Hygge Can cognitive activities during breaks in repetitive manual work accelerate recovery from fatigue? A controlled experiment.
description	Neurophysiologic theory and some empirical evidence suggest that fatigue caused by physical work may be more effectively recovered during "diverting" periods of cognitive activity than during passive rest; a phenomenon of great interest in working life. We investigated the extent to which development and recovery of fatigue during repeated bouts of an occupationally relevant reaching task was influenced by the difficulty of a cognitive activity between these bouts. Eighteen male volunteers performed three experimental sessions, consisting of six 7-min bouts of reaching alternating with 3 minutes of a memory test differing in difficulty between sessions. Throughout each session, recordings were made of upper trapezius muscle activity using electromyography (EMG), heart rate and heart rate variability (HRV) using electrocardiography, arterial blood pressure, and perceived fatigue (Borg CR10 scale and SOFI). A test battery before, immediately after and 1 hour after the work period included measurements of maximal shoulder elevation strength (MVC), pressure pain threshold (PPT) over the trapezius muscles, and a submaximal isometric contraction. As expected, perceived fatigue and EMG amplitude increased during the physical work bouts. Recovery did occur between the bouts, but fatigue accumulated throughout the work period. Neither EMG changes nor recovery of perceived fatigue during breaks were influenced by cognitive task difficulty, while heart rate and HRV recovered the most during breaks with the most difficult task. Recovery of perceived fatigue after the 1 hour work period was also most pronounced for the most difficult cognitive condition, while MVC and PPT showed ambiguous patterns, and EMG recovered similarly after all three cognitive protocols. Thus, we could confirm that cognitive tasks between bouts of fatiguing physical work can, indeed, accelerate recovery of some factors associated with fatigue, even if benefits may be moderate and some responses may be equivocal. Our results encourage further research into combinations of physical and mental tasks in an occupational context.
format	article
author	Svend Erik Mathiassen David M Hallman Eugene Lyskov Staffan Hygge
author_facet	Svend Erik Mathiassen David M Hallman Eugene Lyskov Staffan Hygge
author_sort	Svend Erik Mathiassen
title	Can cognitive activities during breaks in repetitive manual work accelerate recovery from fatigue? A controlled experiment.
title_short	Can cognitive activities during breaks in repetitive manual work accelerate recovery from fatigue? A controlled experiment.
title_full	Can cognitive activities during breaks in repetitive manual work accelerate recovery from fatigue? A controlled experiment.
title_fullStr	Can cognitive activities during breaks in repetitive manual work accelerate recovery from fatigue? A controlled experiment.
title_full_unstemmed	Can cognitive activities during breaks in repetitive manual work accelerate recovery from fatigue? A controlled experiment.
title_sort	can cognitive activities during breaks in repetitive manual work accelerate recovery from fatigue? a controlled experiment.
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2014
url	https://doaj.org/article/87529f5473bb475d960c757dc0c8c27b
work_keys_str_mv	AT svenderikmathiassen cancognitiveactivitiesduringbreaksinrepetitivemanualworkacceleraterecoveryfromfatigueacontrolledexperiment AT davidmhallman cancognitiveactivitiesduringbreaksinrepetitivemanualworkacceleraterecoveryfromfatigueacontrolledexperiment AT eugenelyskov cancognitiveactivitiesduringbreaksinrepetitivemanualworkacceleraterecoveryfromfatigueacontrolledexperiment AT staffanhygge cancognitiveactivitiesduringbreaksinrepetitivemanualworkacceleraterecoveryfromfatigueacontrolledexperiment
_version_	1718414412131336192

Can cognitive activities during breaks in repetitive manual work accelerate recovery from fatigue? A controlled experiment.

Ejemplares similares