Physical Activity and Music to Counteract Mental Fatigue

fatigue impairs both cognitive and physical performance. Bioactive substances (e.g., caffeine) have been used to counteract mental fatigue but could have side effects. The present study aimed to test two non-bioactive strategies to counteract mental fatigue: physical activity and listening to music. The participants first performed an arm-pointing task, then carried out a 32-min cognitively demanding task to induce mental fati-gue (TLDB task), followed by another arm-pointing task at the end of the experiment. Between the end of the cog-nitively demanding task and the last arm-pointing task, 20 min went during which participants performed either 15 min of physical activity, of listening to music or of discussion (control). The subjective feeling of mental fatigue was assessed before each arm-pointing task and after the cognitively demanding task. For physical activity and ''listening to music groups, EEG was recorded at rest after each evaluation of subjective feeling of mental fatigue and during the cognitively demanding task. An increase in alpha power during the cognitively demanding task evidenced the presence of mental fatigue, without recovery during the following 20-min period. In the control con-dition, the arm-pointing task performance was deteriorated 20-min after the cognitively demanding task, while it remained stable after both physical activity and listening to music. Furthermore, recovery on the subjective feel-ing of mental fatigue was similar for both groups. The present results suggested that practicing physical activity and listening to music could be efficient strategies to counteract the negative effects of mental fatigue on motor performances. (c) 2021 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The study tested two non-bioactive strategies, physical activity and listening to music, for combating mental fatigue. Results suggested that both strategies were effective in counteracting the negative effects of mental fatigue on motor performances.