Resting heart rate and cardiac Parasympathetic modulation in old athletes And physically active elderly
Keywords:
aging, heart rate, physical training, athletes, agedAbstract
Objective
It was to compare elderly athletes to physically active elderly people, with regard to heart rate and heart rate variability in conditions of rest while awake and during sleep.
Methods
Seventeen healthy male volunteers (65.2±4 years) divided into the athlete (n=9) and active (n=8) groups were subjected to 24-hour dynamic electrocardiography, for subsequent analysis of the signals using the Holter system for Windows (Rozzin). The index considered in the analysis of heart rate variability was the rMSSD, that is, the square root of the sum of the square of the differences between the iRR in a given time minus one iRR, taken as an indicator of parasympathetic activity on the heart.
Results
The resting heart rate in the conditions of both wakefulness (median=49 vs 57 bpm) and sleep (median=49 vs 56 bpm) were lower (p<0.05) for athletes, but no differences were found (p> 0.05) between the aforementioned conditions for the same group. There were also no differences observed • (p>0.05) between or within groups with regard to rMSSD. The median rMSSD values during wakefulness at rest were 42.5 and 27.9ms, while during sleep they were 47.2 and 34.5ms for athletes and active athletes, respectively.
Conclusion
These data suggest that the greater bradycardia at rest among elderly athletes, in relation to active elderly people, is not explained by greater parasympathetic activity over the sinoatrial node. Furthermore, for this elderly population, the magnitude of autonomic adaptations to the heart resulting from low-intensity recreational training appears to be similar to that resulting from competitive training.
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