Changes of autonomic nerve function with training-stress

Abstract

It is recognized that the assessment of condition in athlete is important to improve performance or to prevent overtraining. The author measured quantitatively cardiac autonomic nerve activity, and examined whether it would be an index of physical stress and to training in long-distance runners. Cardiac autonomic nerve activities, i. e. cardiac sympathetic nerve activity and cardiac para-sympathetic nerve activity, in sitting-rest were assessed by measuring the power spectrum of heart rate variability in 6 athletes, 7 times during 13 weeks (from 8 weeks before Hakone-eKiden to 5 weeks after Hakone-ekiden). The autonomic nerve activities of the runners changed with the changes in training volume and Vigor and Fatigue scales of Profile of Mood State (POMS), and the results suggested that autonomic nerve function might be an index of training stress.