Heart Rate Variability and Psychological Recovery from Exhaustive Exercise: an Exploratory Investigation

Abstract

PURPOSE: Increased high frequency (HF) modulation of heart rate variability (HRV) is associated with high cardiac parasympathetic tone, while low HRV has been linked to a variety of chronic negative affective states, as well as mood disturbance following exercise withdrawal (Weinstein et al., 2007). Therefore, HRV has the potential to explain interindividual variability in anxiety and affective responses to acute exhaustive exercise, independent of cardiovascular fitness (which is also associated with high HRV). METHODS: Ten male and ten female healthy participants (age 30.7 ± 9.26 years) completed an incremental exercise test to volitional exhaustion. Participants were fitted with a Lead II ECG at rest for 20 min pre-exercise to collect HRV data. Assessments of affect (Activation-Deactivation Adjective Check List) and anxiety (State Anxiety Inventory) were made pre-exercise (pre-ex) and 10 minutes post-exercise (post-ex). Peak oxygen consumption (VO2peak; ml.kg.min-1) was measured using indirect calorimetry. RESULTS: From pre- to post-ex, significant (p<.01) reductions in calmness (13.85 ± 3.33 vs. 10.45 ± 4.24) and tiredness (11.9 ± 4.18 vs. 7.65 ± 2.72) were observed, as was an increase in energy (10.25 ± 4.38 vs. 15.35 ± 3.39). The impact of the normalized HF HRV power on post-ex affect and anxiety were assessed using a series of hierarchical regression analyses. Controlling for fitness and baseline affect or anxiety, results indicated that HF HRV power explained variation in post-ex calmness (B =.517; R2change = 0.264; p<.05) and state anxiety (B = -.493; R2change = 0.223; p<.05). CONCLUSION: Normalized HF HRV was positively associated with calmness and negatively associated with anxiety after exhaustive exercise, when baseline fitness and calmness/anxiety were controlled for. These preliminary data suggest that variation in cardiac parasympathetic modulation may help explain some individual variability in the post-exercise recovery of affective states.