Acute Effects of Stretching Exercise on the Heart Rate Variability in Subjects With Low Flexibility Levels

• Autores: Paulo de Tarso Veras Farinatti, Carolina Brandão, Pedro PS. Soares, Antonio FA. Duarte
• Localización: Journal of strength and conditioning research: the research journal of the NSCA, ISSN 1064-8011, Vol. 25, Nº. 6, 2011, págs. 1579-1585
• Idioma: inglés
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• Dialnet Métricas: 1 Cita
• Resumen

  • The study investigated the heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV) before, during, and after stretching exercises performed by subjects with low flexibility levels. Ten men (age: 23 ± 2 years; weight: 82 ± 13 kg; height: 177 ± 5 cm; sit-and-reach: 23 ± 4 cm) had the HR and HRV assessed during 30 minutes at rest, during 3 stretching exercises for the trunk and hamstrings (3 sets of 30 seconds at maximum range of motion), and after 30 minutes postexercise. The HRV was analyzed in the time (�SD of normal NN intervals� [SDNN], �root mean of the squared sum of successive differences� [RMSSD], �number of pairs of adjacent RR intervals differing by >50 milliseconds divided by the total of all RR intervals� [PNN50]) and frequency domains (�low-frequency component� [LF], �high-frequency component� [HF], LF/HF ratio). The HR and SDNN increased during exercise (p < 0.03) and decreased in the postexercise period (p = 0.02). The RMSSD decreased during stretching (p = 0.03) and increased along recovery (p = 0.03). At the end of recovery, HR was lower (p = 0.01), SDNN was higher (p = 0.02), and PNN50 was similar (p = 0.42) to pre-exercise values. The LF increased (p = 0.02) and HF decreased (p = 0.01) while stretching, but after recovery, their values were similar to pre-exercise (p = 0.09 and p = 0.3, respectively). The LF/HF ratio increased during exercise (p = 0.02) and declined during recovery (p = 0.02), albeit remaining higher than at rest (p = 0.03). In conclusion, the parasympathetic activity rapidly increased after stretching, whereas the sympathetic activity increased during exercise and had a slower postexercise reduction. Stretching sessions including multiple exercises and sets acutely changed the sympathovagal balance in subjects with low flexibility, especially enhancing the postexercise vagal modulation.