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Quantification of physiological and mental workloads of faster and slower finishers of a long-distance military training activity
  1. Tirthankar Chatterjee,
  2. D Bhattacharyya,
  3. A Yadav and
  4. M Pal
  1. Ergonomics, DRDO Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences, New Delhi, Delhi, India
  1. Correspondence to Dr Tirthankar Chatterjee, Ergonomics, DRDO Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences, New Delhi, Delhi 110054, India; tchottu{at}gmail.com

Abstract

Background Long-distance runs with equipment are practised in military training establishments to develop physical stamina and prepare for battles. A study was planned to quantify and compare the physiological and mental workloads of the early and late finishers of a military endurance run through the jungle terrain of north-eastern India in hot and humid conditions.

Methods Twenty-five soldiers of the Indian Army completed a 15 km run through a rural and jungle track with 6.5 kg of equipment. Twelve participants who finished the race before 130 min were categorised as ‘early finishers’, and 13 were categorised as ‘late finishers’ who finished the race after 130 min. Physiological parameters, viz., heart rate (HR), breathing rate (BR), estimated core temperature (ECT), peak acceleration (PAC), and physiological intensity (PHYI) and mechanical intensity (MECHI) were recorded using BioHarness V.3 (Zephyr Technologies, USA) and NASA Task Load Index scores were obtained to assess mental workload. Mann-Whitney U test was applied to assess the level of significance at a p value of <0.05.

Results HR, ECT and PAC were significantly higher (167.9 and 156.0 beats/min, 39.0℃ and 38.4℃, and 1.1 and 1.0 g, respectively) for the first group compared with the second group. The second group expressed higher BR and subjective responses (‘total scores’ were 76.5 and 82.5, respectively) than the first. The PHYI was significantly higher (from 7.2 to 6.3) for the first group, whereas the MECHI was similar in both groups.

Conclusion The successful completion by the first group can be attributed to their motivation to continue heavy work in an adverse environment, and their ability to negotiate with natural obstacles was reflected through controlled subjective responses. Adoption of a possible safe and stable approach to the same task might have led the second group to take a longer duration, exert higher mental effort and demand lower physiological cost.

  • Physiology
  • CLINICAL PHYSIOLOGY
  • QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

Data availability statement

Data are available upon reasonable request. The data set is available with the author, will be provided if found necessary.

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Data availability statement

Data are available upon reasonable request. The data set is available with the author, will be provided if found necessary.

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Footnotes

  • Contributors TC acts as the guarantor for the work, conduct of the study and have all the access to the data and took decesion to publish.

  • Funding This study was funded by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DGLS/ST/14-15/DIP-266).

  • Competing interests None declared.

  • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

  • Supplemental material This content has been supplied by the author(s). It has not been vetted by BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) and may not have been peer-reviewed. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(s) and are not endorsed by BMJ. BMJ disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content. Where the content includes any translated material, BMJ does not warrant the accuracy and reliability of the translations (including but not limited to local regulations, clinical guidelines, terminology, drug names and drug dosages), and is not responsible for any error and/or omissions arising from translation and adaptation or otherwise.