Physically cold, mentally strained
Combined effects of body cooling and mental fatigue hinder endurance performance
2025-09-19
(Press-News.org)
Performance in endurance sports, such as long-distance running, cycling, and cross-country skiing, requires sustained activity over prolonged periods of time, and is influenced by multiple factors, such as temperature and mental state.
In chilly temperatures around 10°C (50°F), endurance performance has been shown to improve in certain circumstances. In contrast, extreme cold can slow down muscle and nerve function and cause a decline in performance. Such reactions suggest the involvement of the Sympathetic Adrenal-Medullary (SAM) system, a stress response pathway. Further performance decline can be attributed to mental fatigue caused by psychological pressure, which leads to decreased motivation and increased fatigue. In hot environments, mental fatigue has been shown to act through the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis, another stress response pathway that may be involved in performance decline.
However, the simultaneous effects of cold and mental fatigue have rarely been studied. Therefore, a research team led by Associate Professor Daiki Imai at Osaka Metropolitan University’s Research Center for Urban Health and Sports conducted a study on nine healthy young men that induced mental fatigue through Stroop color-word tasks while cooling their entire bodies. Their endurance during exercise was evaluated with a detailed focus on subjective fatigue and stress response relationships.
Results revealed that no difference in endurance exercise performance was observed between conditions. However, when analyzing individual levels, it became clear that those who experienced increased subjective fatigue showed a decrease in endurance exercise performance. Furthermore, the SAM system seemed to be involved in the increase in fatigue rather than the HPA axis.
“The results of this study provide a scientific basis for effective conditioning strategies for winter sports and work in cold environments,” stated Professor Imai. “Going forward, we will establish specific methods to minimize the effects of cold stress and mental fatigue. Further, we will investigate the characteristics of individuals who are susceptible to these effects.”
The study was published in European Journal of Applied Physiology.
###
About OMU
Established in Osaka as one of the largest public universities in Japan, Osaka Metropolitan University is committed to shaping the future of society through “Convergence of Knowledge” and the promotion of world-class research. For more research news, visit https://www.omu.ac.jp/en/ and follow us on social media: X, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn.
END
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2025-09-19
Australian farmers face inconsistent guidelines when it comes to crop regulations across genetically modified (GM), organic and other crop frameworks, according to new research from the University of Adelaide.
“Even though different sectors in Australian cropping regulate coexistence of both genetically modified and organic crops, they do so in different ways,” says lead researcher Michail Ivanov, whose review was published in Griffith Law Review.
“For example, different standards or codes of conduct recommend different physical barriers or buffer zones between paddocks to ...
2025-09-19
Researchers including those from the University of Tokyo have successfully grown large tomatoes and cherry tomatoes, both rich in nutrients, in tightly controlled environments where the light source was energy-efficient LEDs. Such methods were often limited by the types or sizes of plants that could thrive in such conditions. This feasibility study demonstrates the researchers’ method is suitable for urban environments, potentially even in space, and can offer food security in the face of climate change or extreme weather conditions.
Pizza, pasta, soup, salad, the tomato ...
2025-09-19
The Ig Nobel Prize honors research that first makes people laugh, then makes them think. Its 35th award ceremony possibly also makes people hungry: ISTA physicist Fabrizio Olmeda and colleagues researched the secret of a perfect cacio e pepe pasta sauce. They received the popular award for their findings on Thursday evening in Boston, USA.
Cacio e pepe is one of Italy's most popular pasta dishes, but even (Italian) scientists often fail to prepare the perfect creamy sauce. Fabrizio Olmeda, a physicist at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA), also struggled ...
2025-09-19
Bright squeezed light, exhibiting sub-shot-noise quantum noise combined with significant optical power, is essential for enhanced sensitivity in quantum metrology and precision measurement. In the deep application within the field, the squeezing must be extended to kHz–MHz bandwidth with milliwatt optical power. However, it remains a longstanding challenge to achieve this goal with conventional technologies, since they suffer from low-frequency technical noise and vacuum noise coupling, which caps ...
2025-09-19
A team of researchers, including those at the University of Tokyo, discovered that liquid water once flowed on the asteroid that spawned near-Earth asteroid Ryugu more than a billion years after it first formed. The finding, based on tiny rock fragments returned by the Hayabusa2 spacecraft of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), overturns long-held assumptions that water activity on asteroids only occurred in the earliest moments of solar system history. This could impact models which include the formation of the Earth.
We have a relatively good ...
2025-09-19
Scientists have developed and tested a deep-learning model that could support clinicians by providing accurate results and clear, explainable insights – including a model-estimated probability score for autism.
The model, outlined in a study published in eClinicalMedicine (a journal from The Lancet), was used to analyse resting-state fMRI data – a non-invasive method that indirectly reflects brain activity via blood-oxygenation changes.
In doing so, the model achieved up to 98% cross-validated accuracy for Autism Spectrum ...
2025-09-18
The current process for managing sexual misconduct perpetrated by doctors in the UK requires major reform, say experts in The BMJ today.
Mei Nortley and colleagues argue that sanctioning of doctors is inconsistent and overly reliant on subjective evidence and they call for a dedicated, evidence driven approach “that treats sexual misconduct by doctors not as a regulatory outlier, but as the grave abuse of trust it truly is.”
They point to several recent high profile cases that have ...
2025-09-18
The largest study on pregnant women with excessive nausea and vomiting (hyperemesis gravidarum) has identified increased risks of numerous neuropsychiatric and mental health outcomes.
Researchers from King’s College London and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust conducted a study involving 476,857 pregnant women diagnosed with hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) from 135 healthcare providers worldwide. The study is the first to explore an array of neuropsychiatric and mental health outcomes for women with HG.
They performed a retrospective cohort study using the TriNetX Global Collaborative Network, a network collecting anonymised electronic healthcare record ...
2025-09-18
Continuous landmasses, now submerged, may have made it possible for early humans to cross between present-day Turkiye and Europe, new landmark research of this largely unexplored region reveals.
The findings, published today in the peer-reviewed Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology, unveil a previously undocumented Paleolithic presence in Ayvalık and more importantly could redocument our species’ migration into the continent.
It has long been thought that Homosapien reached Europe primarily coming via the Balkans and the Levant, from Africa into the Middle East.
However, with this new discovery of 138 lithic artifacts at 10 sites, across a region ...
2025-09-18
A team of scientists has discovered that the ability of biochar to conduct electricity can significantly affect methane emissions from rice paddies, one of the largest sources of agricultural greenhouse gases worldwide.
Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, with more than 27 times the warming effect of carbon dioxide. Rice paddies, covering about 9% of global farmland, contribute nearly one-third of agricultural methane emissions. Scientists have long debated whether adding biochar—charcoal-like material made from plant matter—can help reduce or increase these emissions. The new findings, published ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] Physically cold, mentally strained
Combined effects of body cooling and mental fatigue hinder endurance performance
