Introduction: Working shifts has a negative impact on employee health and cognitive efficiency. The purpose of the study was to investigate the impact of shift work on cognitive functions - attention and working memory - using both behavioural and electrophysiological measures. Materials and method: The study was carried out on a group of 34 shift employees: 18 paramedics, 16 firefighters and 17 day workers. The participant performed Attention Network Test (ANT) and N-back task with 2 conditions (1-back, 2-back) while EEG signal was recorded. Results: There were observed higher amplitude of the P200 potential in paramedics (compare to control group), higher amplitude of the P300 potential after work than on a day off, the lowest increase in power in the theta band after the night shift. In firefighters a lower alpha desynchronisation and lower synchronisation in the alpha/beta band was observed after a 24-hour shift. Paramedics and firefighters had longer reaction times (N-back). Conclusions: The results suggest that paramedics experiences problems with sustained attention. Paramedics process visual stimuli in a different way; after a night shift, performing the tasks required more engagement of cognitive resources. In firefighters, a decrease in the visual attention functions and cognitive inhibition was observed.

Introduction: Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) helps counteract the negative consequences of stress. An essential aspect of mind-body therapies is learning to be mindful of emotional reactions and bodily sensations, a process defined as interoceptive awareness. This awareness can also be enhanced by providing physiological feedback from a smartwatch. However, the impact of using smartwatch-generated physiological signals during mindfulness training has not been studied yet. The study aims at verifying, whether physiological signals from a smartwatch would support the MBSR. Methods: We conducted a mixed-design randomized controlled trial to investigate the effects of MBSR training, with and without monitoring physiological signals via a smartwatch, on mental functioning parameters, with measurements taken at baseline and after 8 weeks. Participants were classified into three groups (N = 72): the MBSR group, the MBSR + smartwatch group, and the control group. Between measurement sessions, two groups of participants were engaged in MBSR training, while the third group did not participate in any training. Results: Results showed a significant reduction in subjectively perceived stress levels, eating disorder symptoms, and intrusive ruminations in both groups participating in MBSR, compared to the control group. However, a notable difference emerged between the two MBSR groups: in the group with smartwatches, a significant increase in mindfulness was observed. In contrast, in the MBSR group without smartwatches, there was a significant decrease across multiple stress-related components, including: anxiety, cognitive impairment, addictions, sleep disorders symptoms, behaviors indicating lack of entertainment, and poor functioning. Conclusions: The results suggest that supplementing MBSR with monitoring interoceptive signals by a smartwatch enhances mindfulness, and maintains the effect of stress and eating disorders symptoms reduction but does not decrease anxiety nor improve general mental functioning. This imposes the need for further research to investigate mechanisms involved when observing interoceptive signals by a smartwatch.

In recent decades we have observed a progressive aging of the society. A growing number of elderly people is associated with an increase in the percentage of people whose cognitive functions are decreasing. It is important to counteract this process and develop lifestyle recommendations that will...

Stress is one of the main reasons for deterioration in mental and physical health, and it leads to a decrease in work efficiency. Providing appropriate methods of diagnosing the level of stress allows for making a reliable verification of the effectiveness of stress reduction interventions and...

Background: Cognitive efficiency is crucial for many areas of human activity. It affects the employees’ efficiency and safety at the workplace. An important element of the prevention of accidents at work is the appropriate professional selection, which consists in checking the characteristics...

Heart rate variability biofeedback (HRVB) is increasingly examined as an adjunctive method for reducing psychological symptoms. Standard protocols involve identifying each participant’s resonance frequency (RF); however, it remains unclear whether this individualized calibration offers advantages over training at a fixed breathing rate of 0.1 Hz. We conducted a randomized trial with three groups (RF, 0.1 Hz, Control) to compare the effectiveness of a four-week HRVB intervention using an individually determined RF versus a fixed breathing frequency of 0.1 Hz. Participants ( N = 88) completed pre- and post-intervention assessments of perceived stress, anxiety, depressive symptoms (DASS-21), and resting HRV. Both HRVB groups showed significant reductions in stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms relative to the control group, with no meaningful differences between them. Bayesian analysis provided anecdotal evidence favoring the null hypothesis of no difference between groups. The intervention did not produce significant changes in resting HRV. The present study does not permit firm conclusions regarding whether breathing at the RF confers additional benefits over breathing at a fixed rate of 0.1 Hz or whether the two approaches differ in effectiveness. Future studies aimed at detecting small differences between these approaches should include larger samples. Trial registration : The study was retrospectively registered at isrctn.com (Identifier ISRCTN17808563 date of first registration 20/01/2026, https//doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN17808563). The full trial protocol and statistical analysis plan can be accessed via the registry.