PMID- 25375644
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20160425
LR  - 20211021
IS  - 1932-6203 (Electronic)
IS  - 1932-6203 (Linking)
VI  - 9
IP  - 11
DP  - 2014
TI  - Can cognitive activities during breaks in repetitive manual work accelerate 
      recovery from fatigue? A controlled experiment.
PG  - e112090
LID - 10.1371/journal.pone.0112090 [doi]
LID - e112090
AB  - 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.
FAU - Mathiassen, Svend Erik
AU  - Mathiassen SE
AD  - Centre for Musculoskeletal Research, Department of Occupational and Public Health 
      Sciences, University of Gavle, Gavle, Sweden.
FAU - Hallman, David M
AU  - Hallman DM
AD  - Centre for Musculoskeletal Research, Department of Occupational and Public Health 
      Sciences, University of Gavle, Gavle, Sweden.
FAU - Lyskov, Eugene
AU  - Lyskov E
AD  - Centre for Musculoskeletal Research, Department of Occupational and Public Health 
      Sciences, University of Gavle, Gavle, Sweden.
FAU - Hygge, Staffan
AU  - Hygge S
AD  - Department of Building, Energy and Environmental Engineering, University of 
      Gavle, Gavle, Sweden.
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
DEP - 20141106
PL  - United States
TA  - PLoS One
JT  - PloS one
JID - 101285081
SB  - IM
MH  - Adult
MH  - *Cognition
MH  - Electrocardiography
MH  - Electromyography
MH  - Fatigue/physiopathology/*therapy
MH  - Heart Rate
MH  - Humans
MH  - Male
MH  - Motor Activity
MH  - Muscle Contraction/physiology
MH  - Muscle, Skeletal/physiology
MH  - Neurophysiology/methods
MH  - Neuropsychology/methods
MH  - Pain Threshold
MH  - Shoulder/physiology
MH  - Work
MH  - Young Adult
PMC - PMC4222971
COIS- Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
EDAT- 2014/11/07 06:00
MHDA- 2016/04/26 06:00
PMCR- 2014/11/06
CRDT- 2014/11/07 06:00
PHST- 2014/07/02 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2014/10/13 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2014/11/07 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2014/11/07 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2016/04/26 06:00 [medline]
PHST- 2014/11/06 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - PONE-D-14-28892 [pii]
AID - 10.1371/journal.pone.0112090 [doi]
PST - epublish
SO  - PLoS One. 2014 Nov 6;9(11):e112090. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0112090. 
      eCollection 2014.