Vakgroep Menselijke fysiologie (MFYS)

Periodic breathing (PB) is a form of sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) characterized by instability in the respiratory pattern that shows an oscillatory behavior. PB is correlated with higher levels of mortality and can be found, e.g., in subjects with damaged respiratory centers, who are exposed to acute hypoxia or suffering from chronic heart failure.

Despite the known benefits of physical activity, a large proportion of people do not meet the physical activity criteria. To overcome the ‘lack of time’ argument for not exercising, incorporating physical activity in normally sedentary behaviour, like sitting in the classroom, office or in a care home, might be a solution to increase physical activity levels.

To many people in our Western society are physically inactive. One possible way of being physically active is to cycle to work on a regular basis. This research line looks at the positive (health promotion of physical activity) and negative (effect of air pollution and traffic accidents) effects on commuter cycling on health.

Until today, it is not entirely clear how humans interact with robotic devices and how we can, based on that interaction, maximize the effectiveness of exoskeletons during rehabilitation. This research line focusses on assessing the human-robot interaction by looking at physiological parameters and the brain in order to improve robot-assisted rehabilitation.

Soldiers are exposed to sustained operations during which they need to be active for more than 72 hours without time to rest. The cognitive and physical sustainability of these soldiers will be affected. At the moment, there is no objective tool that can predict soldier’s sustainability.