Caffeine improved cycling trial performance in mentally fatigued cyclists, regardless of alterations in prefrontal cortex activation.

Paulo Estevão Franco-Alvarenga, Cayque Brietzke, Raul Canestri, Márcio Fagundes Goethel, Florentina Hettinga, Tony Meireles Santos, Flávio Oliveira Pires

Journal: Physiology & behavior 2020;204():41-48

PMID: 30742838

Full Text on Elsevier Science View on PubMed

Abstract

PURPOSE

To verify whether caffeine (CAF) could increase the prefrontal cortex (PFC) activation and improve 20 km cycling time trial (TT) performance in mentally fatigued cyclists.

METHODS

After preliminary TT, twelve recreational cyclists (VO of 58.9 ± 6.2 mL kg min) performed a familiarization with a cognitive test to induce mental fatigue (MF) and psychological scales. Thereafter, they performed: 2) a baseline TT; 3) a mentally fatigued TT (MF); 4 and 5) a mentally fatigued TT after CAF (MF + CAF) or placebo (MF + PLA) ingestion, in a double-blind, counterbalanced design. Performance and psychological responses were obtained throughout the TT, while PFC electroencephalography (EEG) theta wave was obtained before and after the mental fatigue test.

RESULTS

The mental fatigue-induced increase in EEG theta wave (↑ ~ 4.8%) was reverted with CAF (↓ 8.8%) and PLA ingestion (↓ 4.8%). CAF improved TT performance in mentally fatigued cyclists by reducing time (p = .00; ↓ ~ 1.7%) and increasing W (p = .00; ↑ ~ 3.6%), when compared to MF + PLA. The RPE-power output ratio was lower (p = .01), but affect (p = .018), motivation (p = .033) and emotional arousal (p = .001) were greater throughout the TT in MF + CAF than in MF + PLA.

CONCLUSIONS

CAF ingestion improved TT performance and psychological responses in mentally fatigued cyclists, despite the unaltered PFC activation.

Address: Exercise Psychophysiology Research Group, School of Arts, Sciences and Humanities, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.; Department of Sport, Exercise, and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom.; Federal University of Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil.; Exercise Psychophysiology Research Group, School of Arts, Sciences and Humanities, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil; Human Movement Science and Rehabilitation Program, Federal University of São Paulo, Santos, São Paulo, Brazil. Electronic address: [email protected].

DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2019.02.009

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MeSH Terms: Adult, Arousal, Athletic Performance, Bicycling, Caffeine, Central Nervous System Stimulants, Cognition, Double-Blind Method, Electroencephalography, Humans, Male, Mental Fatigue, Motivation, Physical Endurance, Prefrontal Cortex, Theta Rhythm