Exercise training in healthy type A middle-aged men: effects on behavioral and cardiovascular responses.

Abstract

Thirty-six healthy Type A men (means = 44.4 years) were randomly assigned to either an aerobic exercise training group or a strength and flexibility training group. Subjects completed a comprehensive psychological assessment battery before and after the exercise programs consisting of behavioral, psychometric, and psychophysiological testing. The behavioral assessment consisted of repeated Type A interviews that were videotaped for subsequent component analyses. The psychometric testing included two self-report questionnaires to assess Type A behavior. The psychophysiological test consisted of a standard behavioral challenge, a mental arithmetic task, performed while cardiovascular responses were monitored. Aerobic exercise (AE) training consisted of 12 weeks of continuous walking or jogging at an intensity of at least 70% of subjects' initial maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max) as determined by an initial treadmill test. Strength and flexibility (SF) training consisted of 12 weeks of circuit Nautilus training with no aerobic exercise. After 12 weeks of exercise, the AE group increased their VO2max by 15%, while the SF group did not change. Both groups experienced decreases in overt behavioral manifestations of the Type A behavior pattern and self-reported Type A traits. However, the AE group showed an attenuation of heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and estimated myocardial oxygen consumption (MVO2) during the task and had lower blood pressure, heart rate, and (MVO2) during recovery. In contrast, the SF group showed a significant reduction only in DBP during the task, which was likely due to habituation. These results support the use of aerobic exercise as a method for reducing cardiovascular risk among healthy Type A men.

Exercise Accelerates Wound Healing Among Healthy Older Adults: A Preliminary Investigation

“…Among distressed older adults, it is likely that distress would be more likely to moderate the influence of exercise on wound healing. Indeed, prior studies have documented an inverse relationship between stress and physical exercise (19), and an attenuating effect of exercise on stress responses among middle-aged and older adults (20,21). In this nonstressed sample of older adults, neuroendocrine changes were associated with differential rates of wound healing.…”

Recovery as an explanatory mechanism in the relation between acute stress reactions and chronic health impairment

“…It may be, for instance, that social or physical activities contribute to the recovery process through a cognitive process of distraction that enables people to detach from their work psychologically (68,69). Moreover, there are indications that people who are more physically fit show more rapid cardiovascular recovery from stressors (84,85), suggesting a physiological mechanism underlying the recovering effect of exercise. Hansen et al (86) provided evidence for a psychological effect of sports activities on well-being by showing that sport rapidly enhanced a person's mood.…”

Autonomic responses of women with parental hypertension. Effects of physical activity and fitness.

“…4 -5 Hyperresponsiveness of the sympathetic nervous system to psychophysiological stressors is an established model for studying the etiology of coronary heart disease, atherosclerosis, and primary hypertension. 6 -13 Some investigators 14 " 16 have reported that cardiorespiratory fitness is associated with lower sympathetic responsiveness to various stressors (see Crews and Landers 17 for a review), while others 1823 have found no effect (see Peronnet and Szabo 24 for a review). The controversy in this area can be explained partly by a lack of standardization in the measurement of fitness, physical activity, sympathetic activity, and stressor tasks.…”