Ordinary people were tested to see how well they did excercising when they were being mentally tested and mentally rested.
The Study
The 16 participants had the same amout of sleep, same amount to eat, smae amout to eat, and had the same exact meal after each test. The trials started with a brutal 90 minute stationary bike that made the bikers pay close attention and answer questions while they were riding with a fast response. this would be the mental test. The exercisers complained to be tired and lack lots of energy.
After this, the actual test was preformed. Bikers would ride until they couldn't ride anymore and scientists recorded that time. Exhaustion point was defined as when they had less that 60 tire rotations per minute over a period of five seconds.
Throughout both excercises, scientists took not of heart rate, oxygen consumption, cardiac output , blood pressure, ventilation, and blood lacate levels. Scientists offered an award to the best excersiser to keep motivation high.
Results
"The participants stopped exercising 15% earlier, on average, when they were mentally fatigued," results said. All participants stopped at exhaustion point at about the same time, yet mentally fatigued people had a higher effort rate at the begining, and reached the endpoint sooner. Motivation was basically the same for both tests, therefore this was not a factor.
