IMPROVEMENT OF REACTION TIME AFTER A WORKPLACE PHYSICAL ACTIVITY INTERVENTION

Work activities have been occupying an increasing amount of time in the daily lives of the population, making individuals less physically active. A job market strategy is to invest in physical exercise programs in the actual workplace to improve the physical and cognitive aspects of these employees.

Objective

To verify the effects of a workplace physical exercise program on the simple and choice reaction times of public university employees.

Methods

Twenty-six physically inactive male and female subjects with a mean age of 29.62 ± 6.47 years underwent a program consisting of thirty-six sessions with physical exercises in the workplace, held three times a week over twelve weeks. Simple reaction time (SRT) and choice reaction time (CRT) were assessed before and after the intervention, using the Vienna Test System^®, and the results were presented in: I) reaction time, II) movement time; and (III) response time. Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were conducted using the statistical program SPSS^® (version 21.0 for Windows), with a significance level of 5%.

Results

When observing the SRT and CRT variables before and after the experiment, we noticed an improvement in reaction time, movement time and response time in the experimental group but not in the control group.

Conclusion

The workplace physical exercise program was able to reduce the SRT and CRT of the experimental group. Level of evidence I; randomized clinical trial.

Reaction time; Exercise; Public sector

	Control group (n=13)			Experimental group (n=13)

	Mean	SD		Mean	SD	P
Age (years)	29.77	5.61		29.46	7.46	0.91^a
Body mass (kg)	73.68	16.10		73.96	18.31	0.97^a
Height (m)	1.67	0.08		1.68	0.09	0.71^a
BMI (kg/m²)	26.52	6.33		25.83	4.96	0.76^a
IPAQ	Pre	Post		Pre	Post
	n(%)	n(%)	p	n(%)	n(%)	p
Insufficiently Active	6 (46%)	8 (62%)	0.69^b	3 (23%)	6 (46%)	0.41^b
Insufficiently Active B	7 (54%)	5 (38%)	0.69^b	10 (77%)	7 (54%)	0.41^b

		Control group		Experimental group		Between-group p

		M±SD	P	M±SD	p
Reaction time (ms)	Pre	314.23±58.57	0.25^a	352.38±52.46	<0.01^a*	0.09^b
Reaction time (ms)	Post	320.54±51.52	0.25^a	319.69±49.60	<0.01^a*	0.97^b
Movement time (ms)	Pre	206.00±59.03	0.82^a	211.00±48.76	<0.01^a*	0.82^b
Movement time (ms)	Post	208.62±49.45	0.82^a	155.31±40.46	<0.01^a*	<0.01^b#
Response Time (ms)	Pre	520.20±104.40	0.52^a	563.40±77.30	<0.01^a*	0.24^b
Response Time (ms)	Post	529.20±90.10	0.52^a	475.00±79.00	<0.01^a*	0.12^b

		Control group		Experimental group		Between-group P

		M±SD	P	M±SD	P
Reaction time (ms)	Pre	451.54±71.27	0.08^a	473.62±67.82	0.01^a*	0.43^b
Reaction time (ms)	Post	421.46±84.83	0.08^a	437.46±75.95	0.01^a*	0.62^b
Movement time (ms)	Pre	220.69±61.18	0.91^a	229.15±48,.59	<0.01^a*	0.70^b
Movement time (ms)	Post	222.15±62.71	0.91^a	179.38±45.67	<0.01^a*	0.06^b
Response time (ms)	Pre	672.23±119.40	0.17^a	702.77±90.50	<0.01^a*	0.47^b
Response time (ms)	Post	643.62±131.85	0.17^a	616.85±103.80	<0.01^a*	0.57^b

Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina do Exercício e do Esporte Av. Brigadeiro Luís Antônio, 278, 6º and., 01318-901 São Paulo SP, Tel.: +55 11 3106-7544, Fax: +55 11 3106-8611 - São Paulo - SP - Brazil
E-mail: atharbme@uol.com.br

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[1] Correspondence: Rafael Cunha Laux. Avenida Nereu Ramos, 3777-D, Seminário, Chapecó, SC, Brazil. 89813-000.rafael.laux@unoesc.edu.br