Is intense exercise bad for your mind? Subjective, behavioral and physiological responses to a cognitive effort to failure
Introduction Most previous research has investigated if a cognitive task reduces the time a person can perform a posterior physical exercise (Holgado et al., 2023). However, no previous research has investigated if performing an intense physical exercise reduces the time a person can complete a cog...
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Bern Open Publishing
2025-01-01
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| Online Access: | https://ciss-journal.org/article/view/12060 |
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| author | Darías Holgado Ludovic Leubaz Paolo Ruggeri Guillermo Borragan Antonio Luque-Casado Tristan Bekinschtein Daniel Sanabria Nicolas Place |
| author_facet | Darías Holgado Ludovic Leubaz Paolo Ruggeri Guillermo Borragan Antonio Luque-Casado Tristan Bekinschtein Daniel Sanabria Nicolas Place |
| author_sort | Darías Holgado |
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Introduction Most previous research has investigated if a cognitive task reduces the time a person can perform a posterior physical exercise (Holgado et al., 2023). However, no previous research has investigated if performing an intense physical exercise reduces the time a person can complete a cognitive task with an adequate level of performance. The aim of this study was to assess the subjective, behavioral and brain activity responses of performing an intense physical exercise on a posterior cognitive task until failure.
Methods In a pre-registered, randomized, within-participant design experiment, 29 physically active participants completed a cognitive task until failure after running at 90% maximal aerobic speed until failure or after walking for 10 min (control condition). During the cognitive task, brain activity was recorded with an electroencephalogram and brain complexity was quantified. Multidimensional subjective experience was assessed with the Temporal Experience Tracing method (TET) (Jachs et al., 2022). Sequential Bayesian analysis for the main hypothesis (intense physical exercise reduces cognitive task performance) until it reached strong evidence in favor of the alternative hypothesis (BF10 > 6), or the null hypothesis (BF10 < 1/6) were conducted.
Results The physical exercise induced a reduction in maximal force generating capacity and increased rate of perceived exertion compared to the control condition, evidencing the presence of fatigue. The total duration to complete the cognitive task in both conditions were 4755.8 s (95% CI 3326.8 - 5107.8) and 4308.2 s (95% CI 3902.9 - 5481.2) for the control and experimental conditions, respectively with no difference across sessions (BF10 = 0.329). Subjective experience analysis identified two distinct clusters of task-related feelings, but the time spent in these experiential states did not differ between conditions. However, cognitive task performance was better in the in the phases of low subjective demands. Brain complexity was lower after the physical fatigue condition, indicating a potential shift in physiological states, although neither behavioral performance nor subjective feelings were affected.
Discussion/Conclusion In conclusion, our study did not find evidence that short intense physical exercise negatively affected negatively the duration participants could sustain an adequate (or optimal) cognitive effort. However, it offers valuable insights into the dynamic nature of psychological and subjective states during such tasks.
References
Holgado, D., Mesquida, C., & Román-Caballero, R. (2023). Assessing the evidential value of mental fatigue and exercise research. Sports Medicine, 53, 2293–2307. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-023-01926-w
Jachs, B., Garcia, M. C., Canales-Johnson, A., & Bekinschtein, T. A. (2022). Drawing the experience dynamics of meditation. bioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.03.04.482237
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-3817f58ffbc04f26952382f9542b6e1e |
| institution | Kabale University |
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| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Bern Open Publishing |
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| series | Current Issues in Sport Science |
| spelling | doaj-art-3817f58ffbc04f26952382f9542b6e1e2025-02-04T03:15:03ZengBern Open PublishingCurrent Issues in Sport Science2414-66412025-01-0110210.36950/2025.2ciss079Is intense exercise bad for your mind? Subjective, behavioral and physiological responses to a cognitive effort to failureDarías Holgado0Ludovic Leubaz1Paolo Ruggeri2Guillermo Borragan3Antonio Luque-Casado4Tristan Bekinschtein5Daniel Sanabria6Nicolas Place7Institute of Sport Sciences, University of Lausanne, Quartier, UNIL-Centre, Bâtiment Synathlon, Lausanne, Switzerland; Sport Sciences Research Centre, Rey Juan Carlos University, Madrid, SpainInstitute of Sport Sciences, University of Lausanne, Quartier, UNIL-Centre, Bâtiment Synathlon, Lausanne, SwitzerlandBrain Electrophysiology Attention Movement Laboratory, Institute of Psychology, University of Lausanne, Bâtiment Geopolis, Quartier Mouline, Lausanne, SwitzerlandUR2NF, Neuropsychology and Functional Neuroimaging Research Unit at CRCN, Centre de Recherches en Cognition et Neurosciences and UNI—ULB Neurosciences Institute, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Belgium, Brussels, BelgiumSport Sciences Research Centre, Rey Juan Carlos University, Madrid, SpainConsciousness and Cognition Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom, UK.; Human Experience Dynamics Ltd, London, UKDepartment of Experimental Psychology, and Mind, Brain, and Behavior Research Center (CIMCYC), University of Granada, Granada, SpainInstitute of Sport Sciences, University of Lausanne, Quartier, UNIL-Centre, Bâtiment Synathlon, Lausanne, Switzerland Introduction Most previous research has investigated if a cognitive task reduces the time a person can perform a posterior physical exercise (Holgado et al., 2023). However, no previous research has investigated if performing an intense physical exercise reduces the time a person can complete a cognitive task with an adequate level of performance. The aim of this study was to assess the subjective, behavioral and brain activity responses of performing an intense physical exercise on a posterior cognitive task until failure. Methods In a pre-registered, randomized, within-participant design experiment, 29 physically active participants completed a cognitive task until failure after running at 90% maximal aerobic speed until failure or after walking for 10 min (control condition). During the cognitive task, brain activity was recorded with an electroencephalogram and brain complexity was quantified. Multidimensional subjective experience was assessed with the Temporal Experience Tracing method (TET) (Jachs et al., 2022). Sequential Bayesian analysis for the main hypothesis (intense physical exercise reduces cognitive task performance) until it reached strong evidence in favor of the alternative hypothesis (BF10 > 6), or the null hypothesis (BF10 < 1/6) were conducted. Results The physical exercise induced a reduction in maximal force generating capacity and increased rate of perceived exertion compared to the control condition, evidencing the presence of fatigue. The total duration to complete the cognitive task in both conditions were 4755.8 s (95% CI 3326.8 - 5107.8) and 4308.2 s (95% CI 3902.9 - 5481.2) for the control and experimental conditions, respectively with no difference across sessions (BF10 = 0.329). Subjective experience analysis identified two distinct clusters of task-related feelings, but the time spent in these experiential states did not differ between conditions. However, cognitive task performance was better in the in the phases of low subjective demands. Brain complexity was lower after the physical fatigue condition, indicating a potential shift in physiological states, although neither behavioral performance nor subjective feelings were affected. Discussion/Conclusion In conclusion, our study did not find evidence that short intense physical exercise negatively affected negatively the duration participants could sustain an adequate (or optimal) cognitive effort. However, it offers valuable insights into the dynamic nature of psychological and subjective states during such tasks. References Holgado, D., Mesquida, C., & Román-Caballero, R. (2023). Assessing the evidential value of mental fatigue and exercise research. Sports Medicine, 53, 2293–2307. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-023-01926-w Jachs, B., Garcia, M. C., Canales-Johnson, A., & Bekinschtein, T. A. (2022). Drawing the experience dynamics of meditation. bioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.03.04.482237 https://ciss-journal.org/article/view/12060Physical fatiguecognitive effortSubjective experienceBrain activity |
| spellingShingle | Darías Holgado Ludovic Leubaz Paolo Ruggeri Guillermo Borragan Antonio Luque-Casado Tristan Bekinschtein Daniel Sanabria Nicolas Place Is intense exercise bad for your mind? Subjective, behavioral and physiological responses to a cognitive effort to failure Current Issues in Sport Science Physical fatigue cognitive effort Subjective experience Brain activity |
| title | Is intense exercise bad for your mind? Subjective, behavioral and physiological responses to a cognitive effort to failure |
| title_full | Is intense exercise bad for your mind? Subjective, behavioral and physiological responses to a cognitive effort to failure |
| title_fullStr | Is intense exercise bad for your mind? Subjective, behavioral and physiological responses to a cognitive effort to failure |
| title_full_unstemmed | Is intense exercise bad for your mind? Subjective, behavioral and physiological responses to a cognitive effort to failure |
| title_short | Is intense exercise bad for your mind? Subjective, behavioral and physiological responses to a cognitive effort to failure |
| title_sort | is intense exercise bad for your mind subjective behavioral and physiological responses to a cognitive effort to failure |
| topic | Physical fatigue cognitive effort Subjective experience Brain activity |
| url | https://ciss-journal.org/article/view/12060 |
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