Fatigue and exposure to cigarette smoke

Responses of 100 undergraduates who scored low on a fatigue scale were compared with the responses of 100 students who scored high. There were no differences between these groups for the number of students who smoked cigarettes and the hours that they were exposed each week to second-hand smoke. Differences between groups pertained to severity of the symptoms that they experienced when they were exposed to cigarette smoke, i.e., the High Fatigue Group reported greater severity for each of the 12 symptoms measured. These data suggest that fatigue may be directly related to sensitivity to an aversive stimulus like smoke.