Mental fatigue caused by prolonged cognitive load associated with sympathetic hyperactivity

Table 1 Visual analogue scale (VAS) value for fatigue and autonomic activities before (Baseline) and after (8 hr) the relaxation and fatigue sessions

	Relaxation session		Fatigue session
	Baseline	8 hr	Baseline	8 hr
VAS value for fatigue	41.0 ± 19.8	45.4 ± 20.4	31.8 ± 21.3	70.5 ± 20.6*, ^†
Accelerated plethysmography
Pulse rate (bpm)	75.9 ± 21.6	66.9 ± 9.8	68.9 ± 12.3	65.5 ± 9.25
Total power (ms²)	2297 (1445 - 3209)	2116 (1407 - 3087)	2849 (1776 - 4019)	1300 (1160 - 2877)**
LF (ms²)	825 (501 - 1234)	745 (430 - 1137)	758 (447 - 1338)	946 (794 - 1829)
HF (ms²)	1074 (654 - 1481)	806 (571 - 1049)	1304 (739 - 1880)	324 (219 - 602)**, ^††
LF/HF ratio	0.75 (0.59 - 1.72)	0.97 (0.53 - 1.55)	0.56 (0.39 - 1.67)	2.92 (2.44 - 3.69)**, ^†

LF, low-frequency component power; HF, high-frequency component power; LF/HF ratio, low-frequency component power/high-frequency component power ratio. Values are presented as the mean and SD or median and inter-quartile range. **p < .01, significantly different from the corresponding values for the Baseline in fatigue session (paired t-test or Wilcoxon signed-rank test). ^†p < .05, ^††p < .01, significantly different from the corresponding values for the 8 hr in relaxation session (paired t-test or Wilcoxon signed-rank test)

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