Open AccessTask‐related increases in fatigue predict recovery time after academic stress
Author(s) -
Blasche Gerhard,
Zilic Jelena,
Frischenschlager Oskar
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of occupational health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.664
H-Index - 59
ISSN - 1348-9585
DOI - 10.1539/joh.15-0157-oa
Subject(s) - stress (linguistics) , task (project management) , medicine , psychology , engineering , philosophy , linguistics , systems engineering
Task‐related increases in fatigue predict recovery time after academic stress: Gerhard B lasche , et al . Department of Environmental Health, Center for Public Health, Medical University of Vienna, AustriaObjective The aim of this study was to investigate the time course of recovery after an academic exam as a model of high workload and its association with stress‐related fatigue. Methods Thirty‐six medical students (17 females, 19 males) filled out diaries during an exam phase, starting 2 days prior to the exam, and a control phase 4 weeks after the exam for 14 days, respectively. Fatigue, distress, quality of sleep, and health complaints were assessed. Recovery time was determined for each individual and variable by comparing the 3‐day average with the confidence interval of the control phase. Recovery time was predicted by Cox regression analyses. Results Recovery times of all variables except health complaints were predicted by stress‐related fatigue. Half of the individuals had recovered after 6 days, and 80% of the individuals had recovered after 8 days. Conclusion The time necessary for recovery from work demands is determined by fatigue as a measure of resource depletion.