Ratings of Perceived Exertion and Self-reported Mood State in Response to High Intensity Interval Training. A Crossover Study on the Effect of Chronotype.

Jacopo A Vitale,Maria F Piacentini,Matteo Bonato,Antonio La Torre,Roberto Baldassarre

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01232

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of chronotype on mood state and ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) before and in response to acute high intensity interval exercise (HIIE) performed at different times of the day. Based on the morningness–eveningness questionnaire, 12 morning-types (M-types; N = 12; age 21 ± 2 years; height 179 ± 5 cm; body mass 74 ± 12 kg) and 11 evening-types (E-types; N = 11; age 21 ± 2 years; height 181 ± 11 cm; body mass 76 ± 11 kg) were enrolled in a randomized crossover study. All subjects underwent measurements of Profile of Mood States (POMS), before (PRE), after 12 (POST12) and 24 h (POST24) the completion of both morning (08.00 am) and evening (08.00 p.m.) training. Additionally, Global Mood Disturbance and Energy Index (EI) were calculated. RPE was obtained PRE and 30 min POST HIIE. Two-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons test of POMS parameters during morning training showed significant differences in fatigue, vigor and EI at PRE and POST24 between M-types and E-types. In addition, significant chronotype differences were found only in POST12 after the evening HIIE for fatigue, vigor and EI. For what concerns Borg perceived exertion, comparing morning versus evening values in PRE condition, a higher RPE was observed in relation to evening training for M-types (P = 0.0107) while E-types showed higher RPE values in the morning (P = 0.008). Finally, intragroup differences showed that E-types had a higher RPE respect to M-types before (P = 0.002) and after 30 min (P = 0.042) the morning session of HIIE. No significant changes during the evening training session were found. In conclusion, chronotype seems to significantly influence fatigue values, perceived exertions and vigor in relation to HIIE performed at different times of the day. Specifically, E-types will meet more of a burden when undertaking a physical task early in the day. Practical results suggest that performing a HIIE at those times of day that do not correspond to subjects’ circadian preference can lead to increased mood disturbances and perceived exertion. Therefore, an athlete’s chronotype should be taken into account when scheduling HIIE.Trial registration:ACTRN12617000432314, registered 24 March 2017, “retrospectively registered”.Web address of trial:https://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=371862&showOriginal=true&isReview=true

Highlights

Chronotype, defined circadian typology, represents the expression of an individual’s circadian rhythmicity
Un-paired t-test showed that groups were matched, showing no significant differences in age, height, body mass, Body mass index (BMI), Morningness–Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ)-Score and weekly training volume
The main finding of the present study is that both ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) and mood states responses to an acute session of high intensity interval exercise (HIIE) performed at different times of the day, are influenced by the subject’s chronotype

Summary

Introduction

Chronotype, defined circadian typology, represents the expression of an individual’s circadian rhythmicity. Three different categories of chronotype can be defined: eveningtypes (E-types), morning-types (M-types), and neither-types (N-types). The chronotype is determined with the use of self-assessment questionnaire and the most used is the Morningness–Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ) by Horne and Ostberg (1976). The existing evidence suggests that chronotype widely affects our biological, behavioral and psychological functions (Adan et al, 2012; Vitale et al, 2017a). M-types, for instance, show an early peak along the day of body temperature (Baehr et al, 2000), serum cortisol (Bailey and Heitkemper, 2001) or blood melatonin circadian rhythm (Mongrain et al, 2004), and they usually perform best in the morning (Rossi et al, 2015). E-types show delayed circadian acrophases compared to M-types in a range of 1–3 h and they have better performances in the evening (Montaruli et al, 2017; Roveda et al, 2017)

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