Activation of Mechanoreflex, but not Central Command, Delays Heart Rate Recovery after Exercise in Healthy Men.

This study tested the hypotheses that activation of central command and muscle mechanoreflex during post-exercise recovery delays fast-phase heart rate recovery with little influence on the slow phase. Twenty-five healthy men underwent three submaximal cycling bouts, each followed by a different 5-min recovery protocol: active (cycling generated by the own subject), passive (cycling generated by external force) and inactive (no-cycling). Heart rate recovery was assessed by the heart rate decay from peak exercise to 30 s and 60 s of recovery (HRR, HRR fast phase) and from 60 s-to-300 s of recovery (HRR slow phase).

Effects of postexercise cooling on heart rate recovery in normotensive and hypertensive men.

Background: Postexercise heart rate recovery (HRR) is determined by cardiac autonomic restoration after exercise and is reduced in hypertension. Postexercise cooling accelerates HRR in healthy subjects, but its effects in a population with cardiac autonomic dysfunction, such as hypertensives (HT), may be blunted. This study assessed and compared the effects of postexercise cooling on HRR and cardiac autonomic regulation in HT and normotensive (NT) subjects.

Metaboreflex activation delays heart rate recovery after aerobic exercise in never-treated hypertensive men.

Key Points: Recent evidence indicates that metaboreflex regulates heart rate recovery after exercise (HRR). An increased metaboreflex activity during the post-exercise period might help to explain the reduced HRR observed in hypertensive subjects. Using lower limb circulatory occlusion, the present study showed that metaboreflex activation during the post-exercise period delayed HRR in never-treated hypertensive men compared to normotensives.

Resistance strength training's effects on late components of postural responses in the elderly.

The effect of resistance strength training on different phases of reactive postural responses to upright-stance perturbation was assessed in elderly women. Perturbation to body balance was produced by fast arm movements aiming at lifting different loads in either certain or uncertain contexts. Results from center-of-pressure analysis showed that lifting a light load under uncertainty led to more body sway than under certainty.