Exercise Performance: Its Relationship with Morphological and Functional Characteristics in Two Ethnic Groups of Yakutia

Abstract

Indigenous ethnic groups of the North have lost some adaptive characteristics because of recent changes in the traditional lifestyle, the giving up of traditional food, and new occupations [1][2][3]. In Yakutia (Sakha), urbanization has most strongly affected university and college students, who are characterized by decreased motor activity and an increased intellectual load. Therefore, the changes in the adaptation potential of this social group are of special theoretical and practical interest.The resistance of the human body to adverse environmental factors is largely determined by constitutional characteristics [4].The morphological and functional characteristics of the indigenous populations of northern Asia have been the subject of numerous studies [5,6]. However, the relationships between the morphological and functional constitutions in different ethnic groups require further analysis.In our opinion, a relationship between body height and hemodynamic parameters is physiologically obvious. A taller body places more stringent requirements on the cardiovascular system (CVS) because the blood supply to the upper body, especially, the brain, requires a more active functioning of the heart and blood vessels [7].It remains largely unknown how exercise performance is related with body size, autonomic regulation type, and hemodynamic type in northern Asian populations.I studied the relationships between exercise performance and morphological and functional characteristics in representatives of different ethnic groups of Yakutia with different body heights. METHODSExercise performance and morphological and functional characteristics were studied in 83 male students of the Yakutian State University, who were aged 17-23 years. The sample comprised 45 Yakuts and 38 Caucasoids who were born in Yakutia (first-or second-generation residents of Yakutia).To study cardiodynamic and hemodynamic parameters, I used tetrapolar thoracic rheography [8]. Initially, the rheograms of subjects sitting on a bicycle ergometer at rest were recorded by means of an R4-02 rheograph. The rheograms were used to calculate the stroke index (SI, ml/m 2 ), cardiac index (CI, l/m 2 ), and heart rate (HR, bpm). An EK 2T-02 electrocardiograph was used. Blood pressure (BP) was measured by the method of Korotkoff.The exercise performance was estimated by the work performed by the subjects at the last stage of a continuous two-stage load on a VE 05 Ritm bicycle ergometer. The loads at the first stage (5 min) and the second stage (until failure, i.e., for as long as the subject was able to perform the exercise) were 100 and 200 W, respectively. The pedaling rate was 60 rpm. All subjects performed the first stage of the load successfully. Therefore, the quantitative parameters of exercise performance were estimated on the basis of the work ( A , kJ) performed at the second (last) stage of the ergometer load: A = Wt /1000 , where W = 200 W is the power of the second stage of the load; t is the time (in seconds) of performing the work with this power at t...

Electrical Brain Activity in Students with Different Lateralization of the Dominant Arm, Yakutsk

“…The success of adapting a northern student to a complex of adverse factors of the natural and social environment (severe climate, geomagnetic and weather disturbances, high mental and emotional loads) is determined by the morphofunctional state of the brain. In these conditions, children of indigenous nationalities have more prolonged processes of physical development and puberty in time compared to peers of other regions of Russia [1,2]. A number of works have studied the influence of exogenous environmental factors (climatic, socio-economic, methods of education and training) on morphofunctional maturation of the brain [3][4][5][6].…”