title: Brief hourly exercise during night work can help maintain workers' performance.
abstract: Increased night work is an important issue because of its implications on workers' health, safety and performance. This study examined the effects of brief hourly exercise as a countermeasure against the adverse effects of night work, especially for workers requiring sustained attention while working in a prolonged sitting posture. During simulated night work (22:00-08:00), participants were required to follow an hourly schedule comprising a 30-min task, 15-min test and 15-min break. The study included 2 experimental conditions: (1) hourly exercise (HE; hourly exercise for 3 min during breaks) and (2) control (without exercise during breaks). Throughout the test period, work performance in the last 10 min of each 30-min task was better under the HE condition than under the control condition (p<0.01). During the second half of the test period, exercise showed an effect on sustained attention (p=0.02). Parasympathetic nerve activity under the HE condition was less than that under the control condition (p<0.01). However, exercise was not effective in reducing subjective fatigue and sleepiness. These results suggest that brief hourly exercise acts as a restraint on parasympathetic nerve activity and is capable of sustaining attention levels during the circadian rhythm nadir that occurs during early morning.
authors: Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, Nagoya City University Graduate School of Medical Sciences. satomo@md.oiu.ac.jp
authors: Tomoaki
authors: T
authors: Sato
authors: Tomohide
authors: T
authors: Kubo
authors: Takeshi
authors: T
authors: Ebara
authors: Hidemaro
authors: H
authors: Takeyama
authors: Tatsuki
authors: T
authors: Inoue
authors: Megumi
authors: M
authors: Iwanishi
authors: Norihide
authors: N
authors: Tachi
authors: Toru
authors: T
authors: Itani
authors: Michihiro
authors: M
authors: Kamijima
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015444:Exercise; D005221:Fatigue; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016272:Occupational Health; D010561:Personnel Staffing and Scheduling; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D014940:Work Schedule Tolerance