Effect of walking upon fatigue due to monotonous work

Abstract

The concept that exercise can alleviate physical fatigue is called active rest. However, whether active rest can alleviate mental fatigue remains unknown. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the effects of exercise on relaxation. The results show that both before and after performing a tracking task, increases were seen in “Sleepiness”, “Difficulty maintaining attention and concentration”, and “Lack of motivation” on the Roken Arousal Scale (RAS), and in the high-frequency (HF) component of heart rate variability, whereas decreases were seen in “Activation” on the RAS and in the alpha attenuation coefficient (AAC). These findings suggest that the tracking task caused fatigue in the participants. Differences were identified between before and after walking and sitting. Walking decreased “Sleepiness”, “Difficulty maintaining attention and concentration”, and “Lack of motivation”, and increased “Activation” on the RAS. By contrast, sitting did not change any of these factors. Walking increased, whereas sitting decreased the AAC, and high-speed walking led to greater increases than low-speed walking. The HF component decreased for all tasks. We therefore concluded that walking counteracts fatigue caused by monotonous work more effectively than sitting.