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Biomedical subjects

H H Schomer

Publications and source records attributed to H H Schomer.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1996

Improved athletic performance in highly trained cyclists after interval training.

This study determined whether a 4-wk high-intensity interval training program (HIT) would improve the 40-km time trial performances (TT40) of 8 competitive cyclists (peak O2 uptake 5.2 +/- 0.4 I.min-1) with a background of moderate-intensity endurance training (BASE). Before intervention, all cyclists were tested on at least three separate occasions to ensure that their baseline performances were stable. In these tests, peak sustained power output (PPO) was measured during a progressive exercise test, muscular resistance to fatigue was determined during a timed ride to exhaustion at 150% of PPO (TF150), and a TT40 was performed on a cycle-simulator. The coefficient of variation for all baseline tests was < 1.7 +/- 1.3% (mean +/- SD). Cyclists then replaced 15 +/- 2% of their approximately 300 km.wk-1 BASE training with HIT, which took place on 6 d and consisted of six to eight 5-min repetitions at 80% of PPO, with 60-s recovery between work bouts. HIT significantly improved TT40 (56.4 +/- 3.6 vs 54.4 +/- 3.2 min; P < 0.0001), PPO (416 +/- 32 vs 434 +/- 34 W; P < 0.01) and TF150 (60.5 +/- 9.3 vs 72.5 +/- 7.6 s; P < 0.01). The faster TT40 was due to a significant increase in both the cyclists' absolute (301 +/- 42 vs 326 +/- 43 W; P < 0.0001) and relative (72.1 +/- 5.6 vs 75.0 +/- 6.8% of PPO; P < 0.05) power output after HIT. These results indicate that a 4-wk program of HIT increased the PPO and fatigue resistance of competitive cyclists and improved their 40-km time trial performances.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Mood states and health behaviours in paramedical first-year students.

The aim of this study was to compare first-year students enrolled in an Integrated Course at a Nursing College (n = 103) with first-year paramedical students from the following disciplines: Logopaedics (n = 12); Physiotherapy (n = 24); Occupational Therapy (n = 18); BSc Nursing (n = 12); Radiography (n = 27), on the Profile of Mood States (POMS), Health Behaviour Assessment Scale (HBAS) and Matric scores. The Integrated Nursing students revealed significantly lower Matric scores than the other students (p less than 0.0001), and showed significant differences on other variables, indicating higher negative mood states and less healthy life-styles. Recommendations are made regarding a possible alternative nurse training programme with emphasis on clinical skills in addition to the heavily academic 4-year Diploma course. A prophylactic stress management programme emphasising healthy life-styles commencing at the start of the training, is proposed.

Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate↗
PubMed1988

Nicotine gum and psychological support in smoking cessation. A pilot study in South Africa.

The effectiveness of freely chosen, personally paid-for, 2 mg nicotine gum (Nicorette; MPS Laboratories) as an adjunct to group psychological support in 12 heavy smokers motivated to stop was compared with 11 matched controls who chose not to use gum and received psychological support only. After 6 months, 50% of the group using gum had stopped smoking compared with 27% of the controls (verified by the measurement of carboxyhaemoglobin concentrations). There was a tendency to underuse gum despite careful instructions in its use, but surprisingly there was a significant negative correlation between the amount of gum used and stopping smoking. It is suggested that this may have been a function of the nature of the psychological support, which was highly structured to fade nicotine and build up a repertoire of alternate behaviours before stopping. In view of the tendency to underuse the gum, general practitioners prescribing nicotine gum without psychological support should ensure that sufficient gum is used for it to function as a pharmacologial aid.

Chewing Gum↗
PubMed1987

The relationship between stress and weight loss in a diet-exercise programme for obese women.

Forty-two obese women participated in two successive 3-month diet-exercise programmes. A stress questionnaire was answered on commencement, after 1 1/2 and 3 months (38 subjects), and after 6 months (30 subjects). A discussion group, informal counselling and in-depth interviews (12 subjects) provided reliable additional data. The hypothesis that subjects with juvenile-onset obesity experience greater stress on the programme and are less successful, was unsupported. The semistructured interviews indicated: that stress is inherent in dieting; that the compensatory effect of exercise mediates the loss of eating as a stress-coping mechanism; and that as goal weight is approached, a serious emotional crisis is experienced, due to the loss of the obese state as a defence. Negative findings from the stress questionnaire, and the patterns which emerged from the interviews, are conceptualised in terms of a general model of reactions to weight loss, which is based on a postulated homeostatic mechanism to maintain acceptable stress levels.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

The psychological effect of exercise training on patients after a myocardial infarction. A pilot study.

Most studies of exercise training in patients who have had a heart attack have concentrated on the influence such programmes have on physiological recovery rather than on possible psychological benefits. In order to study the latter, a group of 16 patients participating in the Cardiac Rehabilitation Programme run by the Cape Western Branch of the Heart Foundation of Southern Africa were asked to complete the Cattell Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire on entry to the programme and again 6 months later. Eight patients participated regularly in the programme for the full 6 months (the exercising group), while the other 8 (the control group) 'dropped out' within the first few weeks and remained physically inactive for the remainder of the 6 months. It was found that there were no differences in the personality profiles of the exercising and control groups on admission to the rehabilitation programme. Both groups exhibited considerable psychological impairment--in particular they were emotionally unstable with high levels of apprehension, tension and depression. Six months later the control group showed a further worsening as regards levels of depression and emotional stability, with a small reduction (2%) in tension and a small increase (1%) in imaginativeness. In contrast, the exercising group showed significantly large reductions in depression (10%) and tension (14%) levels, and marked increases in emotional stability (14%) and imaginativeness (12%). We conclude that attendance at the programme played an important role in normalizing their psychological constitutions.

Exercise Therapy↗