Abstract
The aim of this study was to examine the influence of physical fitness on cardiac autonomic control in passengers prior to, during and following commercial flights. Twenty-two, physically active men (36.4 ± 6.4 years) undertook assessments of physical fitness followed by recordings of 24-h heart rate (HR), heart rate variability (HRV), and blood pressure (BP) on a Control (no flight) and Experimental (flight) day. Recordings were analyzed using a two-way analysis of variance for repeated measures with relationships between variables examined via Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients. Compared to the Control day, 24-h HR was significantly greater (>7%) and HRV measures (5–39%) significantly lower on the Experimental day. During the 1-h flight, HR (24%), and BP (6%) were increased while measures of HRV (26–45%) were reduced. Absolute values of HRV during the Experimental day and relative changes in HRV measures (Control-Experimental) were significantly correlated with measures of aerobic fitness (r = 0.43 to 0.51; −0.53 to −0.52) and body composition (r = −0.63 to −0.43; 0.48–0.61). The current results demonstrated that short-term commercial flying significantly altered cardiovascular function including the reduction of parasympathetic modulations. Further, greater physical fitness and lower body fat composition were associated with greater cardiac autonomic control for passengers during flights. Enhanced physical fitness and leaner body composition may enable passengers to cope better with the cardiovascular stress and high allostatic load associated with air travel for enhanced passenger well-being.
Highlights
Commercial flights are currently used worldwide by more than 2.7 million people annually for business and tourism purposes (Peterson et al, 2013)
All variables were similar between days except for a significantly greater heart rate (HR), and significantly lower LnHF and α2 for the experimental day (ES = 0.49–1.01, Table 2)
Linear and non-linear heart rate variability (HRV) measures (1-h recordings) prior to, during and after the flight on the experimental and control days are shown in Tables 3, 4, respectively
Summary
Commercial flights are currently used worldwide by more than 2.7 million people annually for business and tourism purposes (Peterson et al, 2013). Stressful factors inherent to flights such as increased anxiety during take-off and landing, changes in body position induced by aircraft acceleration and deceleration, aircraft noise, and fluctuations in the aircraft’s cabin pressure have been demonstrated to interfere in the wellbeing and mood state of the crew (Chandra and Conry, 2013). Monitoring allostatic load and improving allostatic tolerance may be vital for health and well-being
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