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Longer exercise duration delays post-exercise recovery of cardiac parasympathetic but not sympathetic indices

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Abstract

Purpose

This study investigated non-invasive indices of post-exercise parasympathetic reactivation (using heart rate variability, HRV) and sympathetic withdrawal (using systolic time intervals, STI) following different exercise durations.

Methods

13 healthy males (age 26.4 ± 4.7 years) cycled at 70% heart rate (HR) reserve for two durations—8 min (SHORT) and 32 min (LONG)—on separate occasions: HRV (including natural logarithm of root mean square of successive differences, Ln-RMSSD) and STI (including pre-ejection period, PEP) were assessed throughout 10 min seated recovery.

Results

Exercise HR was similar between SHORT and LONG (146 ± 7 and 147 ± 6 b min−1, respectively; p = 0.173), as was HR deceleration during 10 min recovery (p = 0.199). HR remained elevated above baseline (p < 0.001) throughout recovery for both trials (SHORT 82 ± 13 b min−1; LONG 86 ± 10 b min−1, at 10 min post-exercise). Ln-RMSSD was similar at end-exercise between trials (SHORT 1.10 ± 0.30 ms; LONG 1.05 ± 0.73 ms; p = 0.656), though it recovered more rapidly following SHORT (p = 0.010), with differences apparent from 1 min (SHORT 2.29 ± 1.08 ms; LONG 1.85 ± 0.82 ms; p = 0.005) to 10 min post-exercise (SHORT 2.89 ± 0.80 ms; LONG 2.46 ± 0.70 ms; p = 0.007). Ln-RMSSD remained suppressed below baseline throughout recovery following both trials (p < 0.001). PEP was the same at end exercise for both trials (70 ± 6 ms), with exercise duration having no effect on recovery (p = 0.659). By 10 min post-exercise, PEP increased to 130 ± 21 ms (SHORT) and 131 ± 20 ms (LONG), which was similar to baseline (p ≥ 0.143).

Conclusions

Prolonged exercise duration attenuated the recovery of HRV indices of parasympathetic reactivation, but did not influence STI indices of sympathetic withdrawal. Therefore, duration must be considered when investigating post-exercise HRV. Monitoring these measures simultaneously can provide insights not revealed by underlying HR or either measure alone.

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Abbreviations

ANOVA:

Analysis of variance

b min−1 :

Beats per minute

BMI:

Body mass index

cPNA:

Cardiac parasympathetic neural activity

cSNA:

Cardiac sympathetic neural activity

DBP:

Diastolic blood pressure

HF:

High frequency spectral power (0.15–1.50 Hz)

HR:

Heart rate

HRR60 :

Difference in heart rate between end of exercise and at 60 s of recovery

HRV:

Heart rate variability

LF:

Low frequency spectral power (0.04–0.15 Hz)

Ln:

Natural logarithm transformation

LONG:

Long duration exercise trial (32 min)

LVET:

Left ventricular ejection time

MAP:

Mean arterial pressure

nu:

Normalized units (normalized to total spectral power)

PEP:

Pre-ejection period

Q :

Cardiac output

RMSSD:

Root mean square of successive differences of R–R intervals

RPE:

Rate of perceived exertion

RPP:

Rate-pressure product

RRI:

R–R interval

SBP:

Systolic blood pressure

SD:

Standard deviation

SHORT:

Short duration exercise trial (8 min)

STI:

Systolic time intervals

SV:

Stroke volume

SVR:

Systemic vascular resistance

TP:

Total spectral power (0.04–1.50 Hz)

VO2max :

Maximal rate of oxygen uptake

VO2peak :

Peak rate of oxygen uptake achieved during an incremental exercise test

VT1:

First ventilation threshold

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the participants who volunteered for this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Discipline of Exercise and Sports Science, Faculty of Health Sciences, The University of Sydney, C103, Cumberland Campus, PO Box 170, Lidcombe, NSW, 1825, Australia

    Scott Michael, Ollie Jay & Glen M. Davis

  2. New South Wales Institute of Sport, Sydney Olympic Park, NSW, 2127, Australia

    Kenneth S. Graham

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  1. Scott Michael
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  2. Ollie Jay
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  3. Kenneth S. Graham
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  4. Glen M. Davis
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Correspondence to Scott Michael.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in this study were in accordance with the ethical standards of the University of Sydney Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC reference: 2014/894) and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Communicated by Massimo Pagani.

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Michael, S., Jay, O., Graham, K.S. et al. Longer exercise duration delays post-exercise recovery of cardiac parasympathetic but not sympathetic indices. Eur J Appl Physiol 117, 1897–1906 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-017-3673-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-017-3673-2

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