Lecture
There are objective and subjective factors of learning,
that affect the psychophysiological state of students.
Objective factors include: the students' living and
study environment, age, sex, state of health, overall academic
workload, and rest, including active rest.
Subjective factors include: knowledge, professional
abilities, motivation to learn, work capacity, neuro-psychic
stability, pace of academic activity, fatigability, psychophysical
capacities, personal qualities (character traits, temperament,
sociability), and the ability to adapt to the social conditions
of studying at a university.
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Students' study time averages 52-58 hours per week
(including self-study), i.e. the daily academic load equals 8-9 hours,
therefore a student's working day is one of the longest.
A significant proportion of students (about 57%), unable to plan their
time budget, do self-study on weekends as well.
Table 1.4.1
Psychophysiological Foundations of Academic Work and Intellectual
Activity. Means of Physical Culture in Regulating Work Capacity
Learning factors
Various regimens and
conditions of learning
Factors affecting
work capacity
Periodicity
of rhythmic processes and
work capacity
Patterns
of work capacity in
the learning process
Types of changes
in mental
work capacity
of students
Work capacity
of students during
the examination period
Means of physical culture in
regulating
psycho-emotional and
functional
state
Physical loads for
increasing
work capacity
At the age of 17-25, the formation of holistic intelligence and
some of its functions (sensory-perceptual, mnemonic, thinking) takes place,
in which education and learning play the main role, i.e. the activity of
acquiring knowledge, skills, and abilities. The factor of learning, of continuous
intellectual work, determines the high tone of mental
work capacity in students, enabling them to effectively carry out
intensive academic activity.
However, in most
students recovery processes are inadequate due to insufficient sleep,
irregular nutrition, too little time spent outdoors,
limited use of physical culture and sports, and a number
of other reasons.
The combination of objective and subjective factors that negatively
affect the students' bodies can, under certain conditions,
contribute to the emergence of cardiovascular, nervous, and mental
diseases. Risk factors include:
1. social changes, life difficulties, a lack of understanding
from close people, a constant feeling of lack of time;
2. overstrain associated with workload, chronic
psycho-emotional overstrain, a sharp restriction
of the physical component in daily life, chronic
irritability, self-doubt, anxiety, and
inner tension, aggressiveness, insomnia;
3. nervous and mental overwork, chronic fatigue,
chronic disruption of the work-rest schedule, irregular and
unbalanced nutrition, systematic consumption
of alcohol, smoking;
4. arterial hypertension (a persistent increase in blood
pressure) with diastolic pressure above 100 mm Hg),
increased blood sugar, a decrease in sex
hormones, and initial disorders of cerebral circulation.
Accumulation (build-up) of fatigue occurs as a result
of a mismatch between fatigue and rest.
In the process of mental work, the main load falls on
the central nervous system, its highest division - the brain, which
ensures the course of mental processes (perception, attention,
memory, thinking, emotions). On average, the mass of the brain is 2-2.5% of the total
body mass, but the brain consumes up to 15-20% of the oxygen used
by the body. Within 1 minute the brain requires 40-50 cm3
of oxygen, which
indicates a high intensity of metabolic processes within it. For
this, the brain must have a high level of circulatory stability.
Nevertheless, the body's energy balance during mental
activity changes only slightly.
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Short-term intensive mental work causes an increase
in heart rate, while prolonged work – a slowdown. For example, before
the start of academic work, students had a recorded pulse rate,
on average 70.6 bpm; while performing relatively calm academic
work – 77.4 bpm. The same work of medium intensity
raised the pulse to 83.5 bpm, and with strong strain to 93.1 bpm.
If mental work without a strongly expressed emotional component
leads to an increase in adrenal release of adrenaline into the blood by 20%,
then in stressful situations – by 50-300% (whereas the noradrenaline content in
the blood increases only during significant emotional strain).
Under strenuous and emotional loads, the oxygen saturation
of the blood decreases by 80%, which manifests as uneven breathing.
Blood composition also changes: due to an increase in leukocytes to 800-
900, blood clotting decreases, heat exchange is disrupted, causing
increased sweating (with positive emotions it is less
pronounced). A normal reaction of the body to intensive and prolonged
work is fatigue, which signals a decrease in the body's
potentials. Fatigue is accompanied by a subjective feeling of tiredness.
Tiredness is a mental phenomenon, an experience caused
by fatigue. The degrees of tiredness and fatigue may not coincide because of
an emotionally positive or negative background. The feeling of tiredness
can be relieved by emotions. For example, the successful completion of work or a stage.
The next period is accompanied by a feeling of tension, when
continuing the work requires an act of will, which often leads to
the emergence of a feeling of irritation and displeasure.
The main factor of fatigue is academic activity itself. However,
the fatigue arising in its course can be significantly aggravated
by additional factors that also cause fatigue.
For example, poor organization of the daily routine. In addition,
a number of factors must be taken into account that do not by themselves cause
fatigue but contribute to its manifestation (chronic diseases,
disharmonious physical development, irregular nutrition, etc.). See
Appendix 1.
Work capacity is a person's potential ability to
perform work of a given
intensity for a certain period of time. In relation to the task at hand, optimal,
maximum, or low work capacity are distinguished [18].
On the one hand, it reflects the possibilities of a person's biological
nature and serves as an indicator of their capability; on the other, it expresses their
social essence, being an indicator of the success in mastering
the requirements of some specific activity. Work capacity depends
both on the level of motivation, a set goal appropriate to the capabilities
of the individual, and on personality traits such as responsibility,
conscientiousness, etc.
Work capacity is a subjective assessment of the possibility of intensive
work. It is assessed as good, satisfactory, or reduced.
A decline in work capacity may indicate overwork,
overexertion, or an unhealthy state [18].
The state of work capacity is influenced by both external and
internal factors, conventionally divided into three groups:
1. physiological (state of health, of the respiratory and
cardiovascular systems);
2. physical (level of illumination, air
temperature, noise level, etc.);
3. psychological (mood, motivation, well-being).
High work capacity is ensured only if
life's tempo (rhythm) is correctly coordinated with the natural biological
rhythms of the body's own psychophysiological
functions. The more precisely the start of academic or work activities coincides with
the rise of the body's vital functions, the more productive the
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activity will be. Students conventionally classified as the «morning» type, so-
called «larks», wake up early and are alert and cheerful from
the morning. Their peak of high work capacity is observed from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., with a
subsequent decline toward evening. They adapt more easily to the rhythm
of daytime learning. In students of the «evening» type - «owls» - the highest
work capacity manifests from 6 p.m. to midnight. They go to bed late,
do not get enough sleep, are late for classes, and in the first half of the day
are sluggish.
Observations have shown that among students who, by their optimal
work capacity, belong to the morning group, hypertension occurs 1.5 times
more often than in the evening group. This is explained by the fact that in «larks»
the body switches from rest to work faster and more actively in the morning –
already at 6 a.m. these students release more adrenaline into the blood,
and noradrenaline, which raise blood pressure. In students of the
evening group, the internal mechanisms influencing the rise in pressure
work more slowly.
There is also a third type of student, the so-called «arrhythmics». In
their characteristics they occupy an intermediate position, but are still
closer to the «larks».
Most students have a stable and well-rounded interest
in their studies and show a high level of work capacity. Students with an
unstable, sporadic interest tend to have predominantly
a reduced level of work capacity.
The following types of work capacity are distinguished, depending on how it
changes:
- increasing (found in people with a strong type of nervous system, capable
of sustained work) often found in high-achieving students);
- uneven (people with a weak nervous system) - sharp fluctuations
in the intensity of work);
- diminishing (people with a weak nervous system) - a steady
decline in the intensity of work and an increase in errors);
- even (characterized by high work-capacity indicators with
little fluctuation).
For the brain to function normally, it needs to receive
impulses from various systems of the body, half of whose mass
is made up of muscles. Muscle movements create an enormous number of impulses,
enriching the brain with a stream of sensations that keep it in a normal
working state. Therefore, mental work capacity is inseparable from
overall health, in the strengthening of which an enormous role
belongs to physical culture.
The tone and work capacity of the brain are maintained over
long intervals of time and are optimized in cases where
the contraction and tension of different muscle groups rhythmically
alternate with their subsequent stretching and relaxation. Such a mode
of movement is observed during walking, running, skiing,
skating, and many other physical exercises performed with
moderate intensity.
To regulate work capacity and ensure successful mental work,
a variety of physical culture means are used (active
rest, daily independent exercise combined with an optimal
daily routine, breathing exercises, psychological
self-regulation, morning gymnastics, micro-pauses of a dynamic and
postural-tonic nature, etc.).
The successful application of physical culture means in the academic
process ensures: a prolonged state of high
work capacity in students, faster warm-up into work, the ability for
rapid recovery, emotional and volitional stability,
and good academic performance.
1. Objective and subjective factors of learning and the reaction of
students' bodies to them.
2. Changes in the state of students' bodies under the influence of various
regimens and conditions of learning.
3. Work capacity and the influence of various factors on it.
4. Types of changes in students' mental work capacity.
5. Means of physical culture in regulating
students' psycho-emotional and functional state.
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