Dijk, D. van (Dick) (2017) Heart rate complexity of elite athletes in response to an intensive training camp. thesis, Sport Sciences.
Full text available on request.Abstract
Introduction: Monitoring the training status of elite athletes is important to optimize training and prevent overtraining, especially during periods of intensive training. Both resting heart rate variability (HRV) and post-exercise HRV have been suggested to reflect an athlete’s individual response to training. However, conventional measures of HRV have revealed some equivocal outcomes in studies with elite athletes. Heart rate (HR) complexity is a relatively new HRV method and has been proposed as a measure of training status. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to examine to what extent HR complexity reflects changes in cardiac activity of elite athletes in response to intensive training, compared with more conventional measures of HRV. Methods: 10 Dutch elite rowers performed a maximal ergometer rowing test on three different occasions; one day before, one day after and one week after an intensive training camp. Pre- and post-exercise HRV was recorded during all three measurements. Recordings were analyzed with four commonly used measures of HRV: the root Mean Square of Successive Differences (rMSSD), the Standard Deviation of all Normal-to-Normal intervals (SDNN) and the Standard Deviations of the width and the length of the Poincaré Plot (SD1 and SD2). Furthermore, HRV was analyzed using Multi-Scale Entropy (MSE), a measure of HR complexity. A one-way repeated measures ANOVA was conducted to examine if the included measures indicated a change in resting HRV (i.e., pre-exercise HRV). A two-way repeated measures ANOVA was conducted to see if the included measures indicated i) an interaction effect of the training camp and exercise on HRV, ii) a main effect of training camp on HRV and iii) a main effect of exercise on HRV. P-values of <.05 were considered to be statistically significant. Results: None of the included measures showed a change in resting HRV in response to the training camp; all p-values >.05. Furthermore, none of the included measures showed an interaction effect of the training camp and exercise on HRV; all p-values >.05. Only MSE showed a main effect of training camp on HRV (i.e., MSE was reduced in response to the training camp when both pre- and post-exercise recordings were taken into account); p<.05. RMSSD, SDNN, SD1 and SD2 did not show a main effect of training camp on HRV; all p-values >.05. Finally, all included measures showed a main effect of exercise on HRV; all p-values<.001. MSE was reduced immediately after exercise and returned towards pre-exercise values in the 10 minutes after exercise. RMSSD, SDNN, SD1 and SD2 were also reduced immediately after exercise, however, values of these measures further decreased in the 10 minutes after exercise. Discussion: In contrast to measures of HR complexity, conventional HRV measures require a stationary signal. This makes them less suited to analyze post-exercise HRV. However, post-exercise HRV might be an important variable in monitoring the training status of elite athletes. This idea is supported by the current study. Results showed that HR complexity reflected training-induced changes in cardiac activity, when post-exercise HRV was included, whereas more conventional measures of HRV did not. To conclude, HR complexity seems to be a promising tool for monitoring the training status of elite athletes.
| Item Type: | Thesis (UNSPECIFIED) |
|---|---|
| Supervisor name: | Poel, dr. H.J. de and Zaal, dr. ir. F.T.J.M. |
| Faculty: | Medical Sciences |
| Date Deposited: | 04 May 2022 10:05 |
| Last Modified: | 04 May 2022 10:05 |
| URI: | https://umcg.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/3229 |
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