[Assessment of physical and psychological strain during the climbing up of high broadcasting masts using...

Heart rate, breathing rate, electromyogram, skin resistance and skin temperature were measured when 11 experienced technicians climbed up a mast of 135 m height by means of a digital memory system, a new method for recording demand profiles. To separate physical and psychological strain the same parameters were measured in a laboratory simulating the physical strain with a bicycle ergometer. It could be shown, using non-parametric statistical methods, that the short-time physical strain seems to be superimposed by an emotional component.