{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,20]],"date-time":"2026-05-20T19:29:16Z","timestamp":1779305356043,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":64,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"18","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,9,15]],"date-time":"2024-09-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1726358400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Beijing Social Science Foundation Project","award":["22GLC043"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["22GLC043"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The popularity of online shopping in China has increased significantly, creating new development opportunities for the express delivery industry. However, the rapid expansion of the express industry has also created challenges in the parcel sorting process. The demanding nature of parcel sorting work, which is characterized by intense and prolonged repetitive tasks, makes individuals particularly vulnerable to the effects of fatigue. Fatigue is a complex condition that encompasses both physiological and psychological exhaustion. It often results in reduced energy levels and diminished functionality, significantly impacting an individual\u2019s performance at work and their overall well-being. This study aimed to investigate how physiological and psychological fatigue affects sorting efficiency and to identify appropriate rest periods that will allow employees to maintain their performance levels. The research involved fifteen participants who took part in a 60 min continuous sorting experiment and a similar experiment with scheduled breaks. During both trials, we collected data on participants\u2019 electromyography (EMG) and electrodermal activity (EDA), as well as subjective fatigue ratings (RPE). Signal features such as the median frequency (MF) of EMG and the skin conductance level (SCL) were analyzed to assess physiological and psychological fatigue, respectively. The results show that physiological fatigue mainly affects sorting efficiency in the first 30 min, while psychological fatigue becomes more influential in the following half-hour period. In addition, subjective fatigue levels during the first 30 min are primarily determined by psychological factors, while beyond that point, both physiological and psychological fatigue contribute to subjective fatigue. Rest periods of 415\u2013460 s, based on EDA recovery times, effectively support sorting efficiency and participants\u2019 recovery. This study highlights the complex ways in which fatigue affects parcel sorting performance and provides valuable theoretical and practical insights for establishing labor quotas and optimizing work schedules in the parcel sorting industry.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s24185989","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,9,16]],"date-time":"2024-09-16T11:36:37Z","timestamp":1726486597000},"page":"5989","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["The Impact of Physiological and Psychological Fatigue on Work Efficiency: A Case Study of Parcel Sorting Work"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"24","author":[{"given":"Miaomiao","family":"Li","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Economics and Management, Beijing Information Science and Technology University, Beijing 100192, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Zuqin","family":"Ma","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Economics and Management, Beijing Information Science and Technology University, Beijing 100192, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2042-4025","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rui","family":"Yan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Economics and Management, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jielin","family":"Yin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Economics and Management, Beijing Information Science and Technology University, Beijing 100192, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,9,15]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Lin, M. (2022). Psychological health correlation of express delivery workers\u2019 occupational stress in the information logistics environment. Front. Psychol., 13.","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2022.975387"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"287","DOI":"10.1152\/physrev.00015.2007","article-title":"Skeletal Muscle Fatigue: Cellular Mechanisms","volume":"88","author":"Allen","year":"2008","journal-title":"Physiol. Rev."},{"key":"ref_3","unstructured":"Liu, Y., Lin, Z., Yang, Z., Li, H., and Shen, Y. (2020, January 14\u201316). Research Progress of Work Fatigue Detection Technology. Proceedings of the 2020 IEEE 2nd International Conference on Civil Aviation Safety and Information Technology (ICCASIT), Weihai, China."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"33","DOI":"10.1186\/s10033-024-01012-w","article-title":"Digital Twin Technology of Human\u2013Machine Integration in Cross-Belt Sorting System","volume":"37","author":"Qu","year":"2024","journal-title":"Chin. J. Mech. Eng."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"175","DOI":"10.1136\/oem.36.3.175","article-title":"Fatigue in industry","volume":"36","author":"Grandjean","year":"1979","journal-title":"Occup. Environ. Med."},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1887","DOI":"10.13005\/bpj\/1308","article-title":"Assessment of human fatigue during physical performance using physiological signals: A review","volume":"10","author":"Mohanavelu","year":"2017","journal-title":"Biomed. Pharmacol. J."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Gawron, V.J., French, J., and Funke, D. (2000). An overview of fatigue. Stress, Workload, and Fatigue, CRC Press.","DOI":"10.1201\/b12791-3.9"},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"389","DOI":"10.2165\/00007256-200939050-00005","article-title":"Exercise and fatigue","volume":"39","author":"Ament","year":"2009","journal-title":"Sport. Med."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"124","DOI":"10.1097\/00002281-200003000-00006","article-title":"Work-related musculoskeletal disorders","volume":"12","author":"Yassi","year":"2000","journal-title":"Curr. Opin. Rheumatol."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Wang, J., Cao, Y., Jin, X., Maimaiti, N., He, L., Zhang, Z., Wang, Z., and Zhang, W. (2018, January 26\u201330). Work-related musculoskeletal disorders and risk factors: A cross-sectional study among Chinese flight baggage handlers. Proceedings of the 20th Congress of the International Ergonomics Association (IEA 2018), Florence, Italy. Volume III: Musculoskeletal Disorders 20.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-319-96083-8_28"},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"958","DOI":"10.1177\/1541931213571213","article-title":"Biomechanical differences between obese and healthy-weight workers in manual materials handling","volume":"57","author":"Corbeil","year":"2013","journal-title":"Proc. Hum. Factors Ergon. Soc. Annu. Meet."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"i1","DOI":"10.1136\/oem.60.suppl_1.i1","article-title":"Fatigue at work","volume":"60","author":"Swaen","year":"2003","journal-title":"Occup. Environ. Med."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"375","DOI":"10.1016\/j.annrmp.2006.04.016","article-title":"Fatigue and neuromuscular diseases","volume":"49","author":"Calmels","year":"2006","journal-title":"Ann. R\u00e9adapt. M\u00e9d. Phys."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1101","DOI":"10.1519\/JSC.0b013e31822dd027","article-title":"The effect of fatigue and training status on firefighter performance","volume":"26","author":"Dennison","year":"2012","journal-title":"J. Strength Cond. Res."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"345","DOI":"10.13075\/ijomeh.1896.00589","article-title":"Shoulder girdle muscle activity and fatigue in traditional and improved design carpet weaving workstations","volume":"29","author":"Allahyari","year":"2015","journal-title":"Int. J. Occup. Med. Environ. Health"},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"457","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jsr.2023.04.014","article-title":"Impact of physical and mental fatigue on construction workers\u2019 unsafe behavior based on physiological measurement","volume":"85","author":"Zhang","year":"2023","journal-title":"J. Safety Res."},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e26296","DOI":"10.1016\/j.heliyon.2024.e26296","article-title":"Study on the development process of apron controller\u2019s work fatigue based on heart rate characteristics","volume":"10","author":"Sun","year":"2024","journal-title":"Heliyon"},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1569","DOI":"10.1007\/s40279-016-0672-0","article-title":"The effects of mental fatigue on physical performance: A systematic review","volume":"47","author":"Marcora","year":"2017","journal-title":"Sport. Med."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Mahmud, M.S., Wang, H., and Fang, H. (2018, January 20\u201324). SensoRing: An integrated wearable system for continuous measurement of physiological biomarkers. Proceedings of the 2018 IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC), Kansas City, MO, USA.","DOI":"10.1109\/ICC.2018.8423001"},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Faber, L.G., Maurits, N.M., and Lorist, M.M. (2012). Mental fatigue affects visual selective attention. PLoS ONE, 7.","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0048073"},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1080\/15438627.2014.975811","article-title":"Mental fatigue negatively influences manual dexterity and anticipation timing but not repeated high-intensity exercise performance in trained adults","volume":"23","author":"Duncan","year":"2015","journal-title":"Res. Sport. Med."},{"key":"ref_22","first-page":"33","article-title":"Influ\u00eancia do ritmo Alfa (8\u201312 Hz) no tempo de rea\u00e7\u00e3o em uma tarefa de controle inibit\u00f3rio","volume":"9","author":"Melo","year":"2017","journal-title":"Rev. Neuropsicol. Latinoam."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"395","DOI":"10.1007\/s00426-005-0228-7","article-title":"Mental fatigue disturbs local processing more than global processing","volume":"70","author":"Eling","year":"2006","journal-title":"Psychol. Res."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"86","DOI":"10.1093\/occmed\/kqu168","article-title":"The Chalder fatigue scale (CFQ 11)","volume":"65","author":"Jackson","year":"2015","journal-title":"Occup. Med."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1574","DOI":"10.1016\/j.clinph.2006.03.011","article-title":"Validation of the Karolinska sleepiness scale against performance and EEG variables","volume":"117","author":"Kaida","year":"2006","journal-title":"Clin. Neurophysiol."},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"221","DOI":"10.1007\/s10578-006-0031-8","article-title":"Positive emotion, negative emotion, and emotion control in the externalizing problems of school-aged children","volume":"37","author":"Kim","year":"2007","journal-title":"Child Psychiatry Hum. Dev."},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1601","DOI":"10.1093\/sleep\/31.11.1601","article-title":"Validation of the fatigue severity scale in a Swiss cohort","volume":"31","author":"Valko","year":"2008","journal-title":"Sleep"},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"91","DOI":"10.1177\/0018720816683509","article-title":"Rest is still best: The role of the qualitative and quantitative load of interruptions on vigilance","volume":"59","author":"Helton","year":"2017","journal-title":"Human Factors"},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"680","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(03)12566-4","article-title":"Rest breaks and accident risk","volume":"361","author":"Tucker","year":"2003","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Fischetti, F., Pepe, I., Greco, G., Ranieri, M., Poli, L., Cataldi, S., and Vimercati, L. (2024). Ten-Minute Physical Activity Breaks Improve Attention and Executive Functions in Healthcare Workers. J. Funct. Morphol. Kinesiol., 9.","DOI":"10.3390\/jfmk9020102"},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"107","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cogbrainres.2005.04.011","article-title":"Effects of mental fatigue on attention: An ERP study","volume":"25","author":"Boksem","year":"2005","journal-title":"Cogn. Brain Res."},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4315","DOI":"10.1016\/j.promfg.2015.07.424","article-title":"Kinematic and electromyographic assessment of upper limb repetitive movements in an artisanal pastry workshop","volume":"3","author":"Silvetti","year":"2015","journal-title":"Procedia Manuf."},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1054","DOI":"10.1111\/psyp.12642","article-title":"Emotional responses to irony and emoticons in written language: Evidence from EDA and facial EMG","volume":"53","author":"Thompson","year":"2016","journal-title":"Psychophysiology"},{"key":"ref_34","unstructured":"Xu, Y., H\u00fcbener, I., Seipp, A.K., Ohly, S., and David, K. (2017, January 13\u201317). From the lab to the real-world: An investigation on the influence of human movement on Emotion Recognition using physiological signals. Proceedings of the 2017 IEEE International Conference on Pervasive Computing and Communications Workshops (PerCom Workshops), Kona, HI, USA."},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Horvers, A., Tombeng, N., Bosse, T., Lazonder, A.W., and Molenaar, I. (2021). Detecting emotions through electrodermal activity in learning contexts: A systematic review. Sensors, 21.","DOI":"10.3390\/s21237869"},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Correa, M., Projetti, M., Siegler, I.A., and Vignais, N. (2023). Mechanomyographic analysis for muscle activity assessment during a load-lifting task. Sensors, 23.","DOI":"10.3390\/s23187969"},{"key":"ref_37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Fu, J., Ma, L., Tsao, L., and Zhang, Z. (2019). Continuous measurement of muscle fatigue using wearable sensors during light manual operations. Digital Human Modeling and Applications in Health, Safety, Ergonomics and Risk Management. Human Body and Motion, Proceedings of the 10th International Conference, DHM 2019, Held as Part of the 21st HCI International Conference, HCII 2019, Orlando, FL, USA, 26\u201331 July 2019, Springer. Proceedings, Part I 21.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-030-22216-1_20"},{"key":"ref_38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"62","DOI":"10.1016\/S1836-9553(12)70078-4","article-title":"Rating of perceived exertion (RPE)","volume":"58","author":"Ritchie","year":"2012","journal-title":"J. Physiother."},{"key":"ref_39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"5","DOI":"10.2478\/prilozi-2020-0028","article-title":"Electrodermal activity and stress assessment","volume":"41","year":"2020","journal-title":"Prilozi"},{"key":"ref_40","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1063","DOI":"10.1037\/0022-3514.54.6.1063","article-title":"Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS scales","volume":"54","author":"Watson","year":"1988","journal-title":"J. Personal. Soc. Psychol."},{"key":"ref_41","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"111","DOI":"10.1007\/BF00421697","article-title":"Signal characteristics of EMG during fatigue","volume":"37","author":"Viitasalo","year":"1977","journal-title":"Eur. J. Appl. Physiol. Occup. Physiol."},{"key":"ref_42","first-page":"195","article-title":"The usefulness of mean and median frequencies in electromyography analysis","volume":"23","author":"Phinyomark","year":"2012","journal-title":"Comput. Intell. Electromyogr. Anal.-A Perspect. Curr. Appl. Future Challenges"},{"key":"ref_43","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Boucsein, W. (2012). Electrodermal Activity, Springer Science & Business Media.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-1-4614-1126-0"},{"key":"ref_44","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Posada-Quintero, H.F., and Chon, K.H. (2020). Innovations in electrodermal activity data collection and signal processing: A systematic review. Sensors, 20.","DOI":"10.3390\/s20020479"},{"key":"ref_45","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jml.2009.09.004","article-title":"Item effects in recognition memory for words","volume":"62","author":"Freeman","year":"2010","journal-title":"J. Mem. Lang."},{"key":"ref_46","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"255","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jml.2012.11.001","article-title":"Random effects structure for confirmatory hypothesis testing: Keep it maximal","volume":"68","author":"Barr","year":"2013","journal-title":"J. Mem. Lang."},{"key":"ref_47","unstructured":"Lenth, R.V. (2024, May 13). Emmeans: Estimated Marginal Means, Aka Least-Squares Means, 2024. R Package Version 1.10.2.090004. Available online: https:\/\/rvlenth.github.io\/emmeans\/."},{"key":"ref_48","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1007\/s11749-007-0046-x","article-title":"Panel data analysis\u2014Advantages and challenges","volume":"16","author":"Hsiao","year":"2007","journal-title":"Test"},{"key":"ref_49","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"94","DOI":"10.1016\/j.biopsycho.2016.01.014","article-title":"Task difficulty moderates implicit fear and anger effects on effort-related cardiac response","volume":"115","author":"Chatelain","year":"2016","journal-title":"Biol. Psychol."},{"key":"ref_50","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Lazarus, R.S. (2020). Psychological stress in the workplace. Occupational Stress, CRC Press.","DOI":"10.1201\/9781003072430-2"},{"key":"ref_51","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"95","DOI":"10.1046\/j.1365-2281.1997.01515.x","article-title":"Muscular activity of the shoulder and neck region during sustained and intermittent exercise","volume":"17","author":"Hermans","year":"1997","journal-title":"Clin. Physiol."},{"key":"ref_52","first-page":"136","article-title":"Identifying anxiety states using broad sampling and advanced processing of peripheral physiological information","volume":"42","author":"Blechert","year":"2006","journal-title":"Biomed. Sci. Instrum."},{"key":"ref_53","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Giakoumis, D., Drosou, A., Cipresso, P., Tzovaras, D., Hassapis, G., Gaggioli, A., and Riva, G. (2012). Using activity-related behavioural features towards more effective automatic stress detection. PLoS ONE.","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0043571"},{"key":"ref_54","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"913","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jbiomech.2009.11.001","article-title":"Muscle fatigue does not lead to increased instability of upper extremity repetitive movements","volume":"43","author":"Gates","year":"2010","journal-title":"J. Biomech."},{"key":"ref_55","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2891","DOI":"10.1007\/s00421-011-2264-x","article-title":"Influence of mental workload on muscle endurance, fatigue, and recovery during intermittent static work","volume":"112","author":"Mehta","year":"2012","journal-title":"Eur. J. Appl. Physiol."},{"key":"ref_56","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"439","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cognition.2010.12.007","article-title":"Brief and rare mental \u201cbreaks\u201d keep you focused: Deactivation and reactivation of task goals preempt vigilance decrements","volume":"118","author":"Ariga","year":"2011","journal-title":"Cognition"},{"key":"ref_57","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"123","DOI":"10.1080\/0267837031000155949","article-title":"The impact of rest breaks upon accident risk, fatigue and performance: A review","volume":"17","author":"Tucker","year":"2003","journal-title":"Work. Stress"},{"key":"ref_58","first-page":"200","article-title":"The electrodermal system","volume":"2","author":"Dawson","year":"2007","journal-title":"Handbook of Psychophysiology"},{"key":"ref_59","unstructured":"Shilpa, S. (2021). The Role of Digital Proficiency During Online Classes among Teaching Professionals and Its Impact on Occupational Stress. Int. J. Indian Psychol., 9."},{"key":"ref_60","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"321","DOI":"10.1007\/s00421-005-0014-7","article-title":"Relationship between perceived exertion and mean power frequency of the EMG signal from the upper trapezius muscle during isometric shoulder elevation","volume":"95","author":"Hummel","year":"2005","journal-title":"Eur. J. Appl. Physiol."},{"key":"ref_61","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Chung, Y., Hsiao, Y.T., and Huang, W.C. (2021). Physiological and psychological effects of treadmill overtraining implementation. Biology, 10.","DOI":"10.3390\/biology10060515"},{"key":"ref_62","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"171","DOI":"10.1007\/s00421-002-0769-z","article-title":"Muscle recovery from a short fatigue test and consequence on the reliability of EMG indices of fatigue","volume":"89","author":"Gravel","year":"2003","journal-title":"Eur. J. Appl. Physiol."},{"key":"ref_63","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Chen, H., Jian, J.L., Lu, L., Fan, L., and Chen, J. (2013, January 19\u201320). Sorting Capacity Analysis and Sorting Strategy Discussion of South Xichang District Railway Station. Proceedings of the ICTE 2013: Safety, Speediness, Intelligence, Low-Carbon, Innovation, Chengdu, China.","DOI":"10.1061\/9780784413159.160"},{"key":"ref_64","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"154","DOI":"10.1016\/j.autcon.2017.03.003","article-title":"Monitoring fatigue in construction workers using physiological measurements","volume":"82","author":"Aryal","year":"2017","journal-title":"Autom. Constr."}],"container-title":["Sensors"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/24\/18\/5989\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,10]],"date-time":"2025-10-10T15:57:02Z","timestamp":1760111822000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/24\/18\/5989"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2024,9,15]]},"references-count":64,"journal-issue":{"issue":"18","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,9]]}},"alternative-id":["s24185989"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/s24185989","relation":{},"ISSN":["1424-8220"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1424-8220","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2024,9,15]]}}}