Association among Physical Activity, Insulin Sensitivity and Autonomic Nervous Activity in Retired Female Basketball Players

Abstract

Decreased insulin sensitivity and parasympathetic nerve activity play an important role in physical wellbeing during aging. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association among physical activity, insulin sensitivity, and autonomic nerve control in retired female athletes. Twelve middle-aged retired female basketball players were divided into sedentary ex-athletes (SA) and physically active ex-athletes (PAA), according to their physical activity habits. Eight college athletes were recruited as young control (YC) subjects. Physical activity, insulin sensitivity and autonomic control were measured by a 7-day physical activity recall, oral glucose tolerance test and heart rate variability respectively for all subjects. In the results we found that PAA group had higher physical activity compared to SA. In addition, glucose area under the curve (GAUC) in YC and PAA were significantly lower than that in SA. The total power, high frequency and low frequency of subjects in SA and PAA groups were lower than subjects inYC group. Furthermore, physical activity was negatively correlated with GAUC in retired athletes. The correlation between physical activity and autonomic nerve activity was not significantly different. These results demonstrated that increased physical activity was associated with increased insulin sensitivity in retired female athletes, but not with autonomic nerve activity.