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Exercise prescription based upon cardiac vagal activity for middle-aged obese women

International Journal of Obesity volume 26, pages 1356–1362 (2002)Cite this article

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The purposes of this study were to examine a new method to determine exercise intensity for obese people based on the cardiac vagal activity and to determine the effect of this approach on myocardial stress.

SUBJECTS: Forty-three middle aged obese female volunteers (age 43.7±6.5 y; height 1.56±0.05 m; body mass 66.5±9.3 kg; body mass index 27.3±2.8 kg m2; percentage body fat 40.7±5.9%).

MEASUREMENT: In the first experiment, 43 subjects performed a ramp exercise test on a bicycle ergometer with measurement of ECG and gas exchange parameters. In the second experiment, 11 subjects performed 45 min of constant walking exercise on a treadmill at a level corresponding to exercise intensity determined by vagal activity obtained from a ramp bicycle test. Blood pressure, endothelin 1 (ET-1), catecholamine, atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), and brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) were measured before and after exercise.

RESULTS: The heart rate variability power decreased with increasing work rate, and changed little after reaching individual-specific work rate. We presumed that vagal activity disappeared at this point and that the heart rate at this exercise intensity was determined as the vagal activity threshold (TVA). The results showed a significant positive correlation (r=0.742, P<0.0001) between TVA and ventilatory threshold (VT) heart rates, although the mean heart rate of TVA (114.3±8.5 beats/min) was significantly lower (P<0.001) than that at VT (119.0±11.7), suggesting the cardiac vagal withdrawal occurred prior to the onset of lactate acidosis (lactic acid accumulation). Furthermore, exercise intervention experiment at TVA indicated that ET-1, catecholamine and BNP levels were not significantly different before and after exercise. However, ANP levels increased significantly after exercise (pre-exercise 18.6±5.38 vs post-exercise 44.0±24.87 pg/ml, P<0.001), which in turn brought about a significant post-exercise reduction in the blood pressure (SBP 117.6±13.7 vs 110.5±7.4 mmHg, P<0.05; DBP 78.6±6.7 vs 73.5±6.6 mmHg, P<0.01).

CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that it is possible to determine the exercise intensity (TVA) on the basis of cardiac vagal response. These results also suggest that exercise at TVA level is a safe exercise intensity in the light of cardiac stress, and that TVA may be recommended for obese people who might possess lower cardiac sympatho-vagal activity.

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Acknowledgements

We thank C Zenji and H Ue, Laboratory of Applied Physiology, Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies, Kyoto University, for assistance during these experiments. This study was supported by the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture Grant-In-Aid for Basic Research (B) no. 11480011 for TM.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Health and Sports Science, Faculty of Nursing, College of Nursing Art and Science, Hyogo, Japan

    M Shibata

  2. Laboratory of Applied Physiology, Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies, Kyoto University, Japan

    M Shibata & T Moritani

  3. Department of Medicine and Clinical Science, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

    T Miyawaki, T Hayashi & K Nakao

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  1. M Shibata
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  2. T Moritani
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  3. T Miyawaki
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  4. T Hayashi
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Correspondence to M Shibata.

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Shibata, M., Moritani, T., Miyawaki, T. et al. Exercise prescription based upon cardiac vagal activity for middle-aged obese women. Int J Obes 26, 1356–1362 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0802131

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