Effects of a four week detraining period on physical, metabolic, and inflammatory profiles of elderly women who regularly participate in a program of strength training

Abstract

Background: Human aging has innumerable health implications, including loss of muscle mass and increased circulating inflammatory markers. Resistance exercise in the elderly can prevent muscle mass loss and improve the inflammatory profile. Conversely, detraining can reverse this picture. Thus, there is a strong need for studies with the elderly population to clarify the real impacts of a training interruption. Therefore, the objective of this study was to analyze the inflammatory profile of resistance trained elderly women after 4 weeks of detraining. Methods: Seventeen elderly women with regular participation in an exercise program participated in the study. Body mass index (BMI), physical activity level assessments, total cholesterol and its fractions, triglycerides, glycemia and insulin blood levels, IL-1β, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, IL-13, TNF-α, IFNγ, and MCP-1 were assessed before and after the detraining protocol. Results: The 4 week detraining period decreased physical fitness without altering body mass and BMI. The short detraining period was able to induce some metabolic disturbances in elderly women who regularly participate in a program of strength training, such as increasing HOMA-IR (0.72 ± 0.14 to 0.81 ± 0.23; p = 0.029), and increasing total blood cholesterol (178.21 ± 23.64 to 220.90 ± 64.98 mg/dL; p = 0.008) and LDL fraction (111.79 ± 21.09 to 155.33 ± 60.95 mg/dL; p = 0.048). No alteration in levels of inflammatory cytokines was observed, however, this detraining period significantly reduced IL-13 (44.84 ± 100.85 to 35.84 ± 78.89 pg/mL; p = 0.031) a Th2 cytokine that induces M2 macrophage polarization.

Effects of a 24-Week Exercise Program on Functional Fitness, Oxidative Stress, and Salivary Cortisol Levels in Elderly Subjects

“…Within this frame, several authors have reported significant reductions in the performance of all functional fitness components even after a relatively short detraining period (i.e., lasting at least 4/6 weeks) [ 54 , 55 , 56 ]. Since the evaluation of both physical and biomechanical parameters was not assessed after the training interruption (i.e., before starting the intervention program), we cannot rule out that the detraining period may negatively impact these variables, resulting in a significant decrease in physical performance.…”

Efeitos do Exercício Físico na Resposta da Interleucina-6 Durante o Tratamento da Síndrome Metabólica

“…Quando o total de passos diários reduz de 10.000 para 1.500 passos, em apenas 14 dias há um aumento signifi cativo da AC e CA, o que contribui tanto com o risco de desenvolvimento de DCNT como da aproximação dos componentes e comorbidades da SM 27 . Nessa mesma linha, um estudo recente demonstrou que mesmo curto período de destreinamento é capaz de promover RI e aumento nos níveis de LDL em idosas treinadas 28 . Portanto, tais evidências mostram que ao mesmo tempo que o aumento do NAF é importante para prevenção e controle de SM, reduções signifi cativas do NAF aumentam a probabilidade de desenvolvimento de DCNT, inclusive SM 29 .…”