Cardiorespiratory fitness and cognitive performance before and after confinement in a nuclear submarine

The aim of this study was to further document physiological deconditioning from occupational exposure to submarines as described in a small number of reports and determine whether cognitive performance parallels the physiological changes associated with physical training and deconditioning. We examined cardiorespiratory fitness and cognitive performance in 14 male subjects during 70 d of confinement in a nuclear submarine. Maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max) and anaerobic threshold (AT) were assessed before and after confinement. Six exercising subjects (ES) cycled 4-7 times per week for 20 min at 75% max heart rate for 8 weeks. Eight control subjects (CS) did no exercise. Every 14 d of the patrol, cognitive performance was evaluated in both groups by administering a mental arithmetic and choice reaction time tests before cycling, during cycling, and post cycling. The cycle bout consisted of exercising at 75% VO2max for 15 min. After confinement, VO2max remained constant for ES but declined 7% statistically nonsignificant for the CS. AT expressed as a percentage of VO2max increased 15% (p less than 0.05) in the ES and decreased 20% (p less than 0.05) in the CS. The only significant effect in the cognitive tests was that both groups responded faster in the choice reaction time test during the exercise session. In conclusion, these data demonstrate a training effect for AT in the ES and a deconditioning response for AT and a statistically nonsignificant reduction in VO2max in the CS. Under the conditions of this experiment we could find no effects of physical training and deconditioning on the cognitive performance test employed here, although some trends suggest that exercisers out-performed the control group.