Relatonship between physiological parameters, perceptual and emotional journey into rhythm during self-selected

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between physiological, perceptual and affective responses during walking at a self-selected pace in sedentary women. The sample was composed by forty-fi ve women with a median age of 32.6 ± 8.6 yr. Subjects participated of an incremental test to determine the maximal physiological, perceptual, and affective responses; subjects also participated of an 20 min walking bout on the treadmill at their self-selected pace to determine the physiological (maximal oxygen uptake, VO2, heart rate, HR), perceptual (rating of perceived exertion, RPE) and affective responses (affective valence, AV). Pearson correlations (r) were used to verify the associations between physiological, perceptual and affective responses during walking, with a level of signifi cance of p<0.05. RPE were associated to percent of maximal oxygen uptake (%VO2max), percent of oxygen uptake at the ventilatory threshold (VT; %VO2VT), heart rate (HR), percent of maximal heart rate (%HRmax) and percent of heart rate at the VT (%HRVT) (p<0.01). Otherwise, affective valence (AV) was only associated to HRVT and VO2max (p<0.05). In conclusion, the psychological responses, more particularly the RPE, were associated to physiological responses during walking at a self-selected pace.