The labor makes a stupid man cleverer, the clever man brighter, the bright one - persistent and balanced
W. Osler
40.1 General characteristics
40.2 Physical labor
40.3 Physical training
40.4 Mental labor
40.5 Human performance
40.6 Fatigue
40.7 Rest and recovery
40.8 Features of labor in modern industry
Control questions Situational tasks
40.1. General characteristics
Labor is a human-specific social form of behavior aimed at expedient transformation of the environment and purposeful activities to create material and spiritual benefits. "Labor adds oil to the lamp of life, and thought
lights it" (D. Bellers).
In its most general form, labor is divided into two parts, physical and mental; however, with each form of labor there are physical and mental elements. Depending on the physiological systems that are predominantly involved in the process, in each type of labor, both severity and intensity are determined.
Severity of labor is the physiological cost of work, which is determined by: the load on skeletal muscles, the body's energy expenditure, the amount of static ef-
fort, the working posture (100-300 bends per shift or being in an inclined position up to 50% of the time), the degree of stress of physiological functions (HR, fatigue, etc.) In order of severity, which reflects the predominant load on the cardiovascular and respiratory systems: 1) light labor (energy consumption up to 150 kcal/h, working pulse up to 80) can be performed indefinitely; 2) medium labor (150-200 kcal/h, pulse 80-100 beats/min) can be performed for an 8-hour working day; 3) heavy labor (250-360 kcal/h, pulse 100-120 beats/min) requires a periodic reduction in the severity of labor to a medium level, 4) very heavy labor (more than 360 kcal/h, pulse 120-140 beats/ min) can only be in the form of short episodes (530 min).