Exercise to reduce work-related fatigue among employees: a randomized controlled trial by de Vries JD, van Hooff MLM, Geurts SAE, Kompier MAJ This study shows that exercise has the potential to serve as a relatively simple and inexpensive secondary prevention strategy to improve (long-term) well-being among employees experiencing high work-related fatigue. The extent to which the exercise intervention under study caused beneficial effects in work-related fatigue depended on participants' compliance, underlining the challenge of implementing exercise interventions in practice among fatigued employees.
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337Original article Scand J Work Environ Health. 2017;43(4):337-349. doi:10.5271/sjweh.3634 Exercise to reduce work-related fatigue among employees: a randomized controlled trial Objectives The present study evaluated the efficacy of an exercise intervention to reduce work-related fatigue (emotional exhaustion, overall fatigue, and need for recovery). The effects of exercise on self-efficacy, sleep, work ability, cognitive functioning and aerobic fitness (secondary outcomes) were also investigated.Methods Employees with high levels of work-related fatigue were randomly assigned to either a 6-week exercise intervention (EI; N=49) or a wait-list control group (WLC; N=47). All participants were measured pre-(T0) and post-intervention (T1). EI participants were also measured 6 (T2) and 12 weeks (T3) after the end of the intervention. Analyses were based on intention-to-treat (ITT) and per-protocol (PP). PP analyses only included EI participants (N=31) who completed the intervention and WLC participants (N= 35) who did not increase their exercise level during the wait period.Results Analyses of covariance (ANCOVA) revealed that, at T1, the EI group reported lower emotional exhaustion and overall fatigue than the WLC group, however, only according to PP analyses. Both according to ITT and PP analyses, EI participants showed higher sleep quality, work ability, and self-reported cognitive functioning at T1 compared to WLC participants. Intervention effects were maintained at T2 and T3.
ConclusionsThe exercise intervention had enduring effects on work-related fatigue and broader indicators of employee well-being. This study demonstrates that, in case of work-related fatigue, exercise does constitute a powerful medicine for those who comply with the treatment.