Vagal and sympathetic activity in burnouts during a mentally demanding workday.
OBJECTIVE
We study differences in task performance and related sympathetic-vagal reaction patterns between burnouts and controls during a mentally demanding workday.


METHODS
Thirty-nine adults with burnout and 40 healthy controls performed mental tasks during a simulated workday. At pretest, just before lunch (lunch test) and at the end of the day (posttest), a Stroop color word task was administered as a probe task. Efficiency (the relation between performance and effort during the probe task), performance (reaction time and errors), and effort (self-report) were measured, as well as cardiovascular indices of sympathetic (blood pressure) and vagal (respiratory sinus arrhythmia) activity.


RESULTS
Performance and effort investment of both burnouts and controls did not differ during pretest. As the day progressed the performance of controls improved more than the performance of burnouts. Moreover, the control group showed a decrease of blood pressure in response to mental task demands, a decrease in respiratory sinus arrhythmia activity, and no change in experienced effort. In the burnout group, no change could be demonstrated in blood pressure, suggesting a sympathetic predominance in the sympathetic-vagal balance. Burnouts experienced an increase in effort and were more tired at the end of the workday.


CONCLUSIONS
Burnouts and healthy controls differ in their pattern of sympathetic-vagal activity only after long-lasting work demands. Findings give limited support to Porges's view that in healthy subjects, the vagal system is more responsive to challenging task situations than in chronically stressed individuals. The distinction between two phases in the burnout on the basis of behavioral and physiological characteristics is discussed.
Zanstra
Ydwine J
YJ
University of Aberdeen, College of Life Sciences and Medicine, School of Psychology, Aberdeen, The Netherlands.
Schellekens
Jan M H
JM
Schaap
Cas
C
Kooistra
Libbe
L
D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D002055:Burnout, Professional / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002319:Cardiovascular System / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D005222:Mental Fatigue / Q000503:physiopathology; D008606:Mental Processes / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D012119:Respiration; D013564:Sympathetic Nervous System / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D013850:Thinking / Q000502:physiology; D014630:Vagus Nerve / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014937:Work / Q000502:physiology*