Mental Fatigue Can Affect Physical Endurance

When participants performed a mentally fatiguing task prior to a difficult exercise test, they reached exhaustion more quickly than when they did the same exercise when mentally rested. Mental fatigue did not cause the heart or muscles to perform any differently; instead, our "perceived effort" determines when we reach exhaustion. The next step is to look at the brain to find out exactly why people with mental fatigue perceive exercise to be more difficult.

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