12th forum of the European Network of Sport Science, Education and Employment

Description

Monitoring (physical) stress in professional fire fighters. It is important to measure physical performance and stress of people with physically demanding professions. This will prevent (too) high physical strain and stress that leads to a negative influence on decision-making which ultimately may causes overload. The Zephyr BioHarness is able to measure various physiological variables simultaneously. In the current study, the Zephyr was evaluated for two aspects: to validate different functions and to determine feasibility. In the first project, the respiratory and heart rate were validated using Polar and Coretex Metalyzer. The Zephyr appeared to be valid at different speeds ( r > 0.7) valid. In the rest period prior to the effort, the Zephyr was not valid. In the second project, the stress function of the Zephyr was investigated. During moments of increasing stress, the respiration rate increased significantly. Furthermore, there was also a trend for a decrease in the heart rate variability. The feasibility of the Zephyr BioHarness was investigated in professional fire fighters of the fire fighter squad if Groningen. Fire fighters wore the Zephyr during 24-hour shifts. In this way the fire fighters experienced the Zephyr during moments of sleep, rest and real. Heart rate, respiratory rate and heart rate variability demonstrated to be the best in seem important physiological variables to determine physical stress during the 24-hour shifts. On average, the Zephyr BioHarness seemed to be a good measurement tool that was able to monitor different relevant physiological variables simultaneously.

Period	Oct 2013
Event type	Conference
Conference number	12th
Location	Groningen, Netherlands