Influence of resistance training on cardiac autonomic modulation: literature review

Abstract

Among the benefits provided by resistance training, its influence on cardiac autonomic modulation draws attention, given the importance of the autonomic nervous system in the control of the internal functions of the body. The objective of this narrative review was to gather information about the effects of resistance training on autonomic modulation in healthy young adults, assessed through heart rate variability. This search was performed in May 2013 in the following databases: Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (MEDLINE/PubMed), Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro), Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO) and Literature and Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences (LILACS), with articles published between January 2003 and March 2013. The keywords used were: "resistance training," "lifting," "exercise therapy" crossreferenced with "autonomic nervous system" and "parasympathetic nervous system" and also the term "heart rate variability". Of the 1,940 titles found, 3 complete articles were selected to compose the review. Data were analyzed qualitatively. The analysis of these studies suggests that resistance training can change the heart rate variability indices in the population of healthy young adults and that this change is due to increased vagal activity, provided by the practice of this type of training.

Heart Rate and Cardiovascular Responses to Commercial Flights: Relationships with Physical Fitness

“…An explanation for this lack of association was not apparent in the current study however, others (Barbosa et al, 2014) have demonstrated that resistance training could positively alter HRV of healthy men and hypertensive women. Therefore, we suggest that enhancement of muscular strength through resistance training should not be disregarded as a strategy to improve cardiac autonomic modulation as it has been shown to be of great value for HRV and performance (Caruso et al, 2015).…”

Relationship between domains of physical activity and cardiac autonomic modulation in adults: a cross-sectional study

“…Schmidt et al 33 observed that sports activity showed higher relationship with physical fitness and physical health status than habitual activity in 18 years of follow up. Based upon these evidences, it is hypothesized that high-intensity training may result in a positive change in the vagal activity 34,35 .…”

Impact of functional training on cardiac autonomic modulation, cardiopulmonary parameters and quality of life in healthy women

“…This is the first study to assess the impact of FT on autonomic modulation in a healthy adult population. Even with conventional resistance training, there are few studies which address its effects on autonomic modulation in this population (Barbosa et al ., ) and results on the topic are not yet well established.…”

“…Data were collected individually, and subjects were instructed to remain at rest, avoiding conversations during the execution. The circulation of people around the room was not permitted during the execution of the collections to reduce the anxiety of the volunteers (Rezende Barbosa et al, 2014).…”

“…Specifically regarding autonomic modulation, several studies involving resistance training have evaluated the effects of such training on the ANS by means of heart rate variability (HRV) (Barbosa et al ., ), a non‐invasive measure which describes the oscillations of the intervals between consecutive heart beats [respiratory rate (RR) intervals] and can be used to identify phenomena related to ANS (Vanderlei et al ., ). These studies suggest that conventional resistance training positively influences autonomic modulation.…”