Research Shows Fatigue More Mental Than Most People Think
Recently I came across some research that confirmed what I already new intuitively. Fatigue can be just as much about your level of mental toughness as it is your physical toughness.
In the sports world when an athlete gases out, fans often blame the athlete’s physical conditioning, or lack thereof. The truth is an athlete in peak physical condition will break faster than their peers when facing mental fatigue.
The problem is that onlookers can’t see mental fatigue and rarely do athletes practice mental conditioning. Therefore, physical conditioning always takes the blame when an athlete underperforms due to fatigue. However, researchers find that physical conditioning is often only part of the issue. Mental conditioning often plays just as big of a role.
What the Research Says about Mental Fatigue
Sports illustrated cites a significant body of research concluding this. In the article Figuring out fatigue: A tired brain can hinder performance as much as a tired muscle, the author Ian McMahan writes:
Researchers have suggested that the sensation of fatigue, once considered solely a physical phenomenon, might also arise from the brain. Meaning that the brain is responsible for collecting the physical sensations of the body—the burning legs and heaving lungs—and deciding how much is too much. This research has demonstrated that mental fatigue—produced by sustained periods of demanding cognitive activity, and described by feelings of “tiredness” and “lack of energy”—can reduce the time it takes to reach exhaustion during exercise.
Dr. Samuele Marcora has studied the effects of mental fatigue on soccer performance and discovered that mentally tired athletes don’t perform as well. After inducing mental fatigue with a demanding cognitive test, Marcora and his team of researchers found that the mentally fatigued soccer players couldn’t run as far or kick a ball as skillfully as their mentally-fresh counterparts.
It is important to note that even though the mentally fatigued athletes were performing at an equal level of physical exertion as a control group, those mentally fatigued players perceived the effort as more difficult than those not asked to take a mentally demanding test. Meaning their effort wasn’t physically harder, it just felt harder.
I highly recommend parents and coaches of athletes read this full article on SI.com. The insights suggest mental stress even from meaningless activities like playing video games or surfing social media impacts fatigue. Without doubt, understanding this information is another piece of the puzzle for helping athletes go from good to great.