Effects of daily mild supine exercise on physical performance after 20 days bed rest in young persons

Abstract

To investgate the effects of daily mild supine exercise on physical performance capacity identified as maximal oxygen uptake rate (VO 2max) after 20 days bed-rest, 3 male students performed a supine pedaling at 40 % intensity of VO 2max for one hour every day, while 6 male and 5 female students were control. Before and after the bed-rest, muscle mass and strength of exercising leg and cardio-vascular responses during −40 mmHg lower body negative pressure (LBNP) and moderate upright cycling exercise were measured. Despite the exercise programme VO 2max was similarly decreased to the control subjects after the bed-rest. The delta VO 2max was correlated to delta % left ventricular fractional shortening during LBNP, and also % delta VO 2max to % delta stroke volume of the moderate exercise (both p<0.05). The exercise programme should be too weak to maintain cardiovascular functions and thus to present the decrease in VO 2max against pro-longed bed-rest as well as weightlessness stress.