Amanda Veiga Sardeli

Cardiac autonomic and haemodynamic recovery after a single session of aerobic exercise with and without blood flow restriction in older adults

ABSTRACT This study investigated the autonomic and haemodynamic responses to different aerobic exercise loads, with and without blood flow restriction (BFR). In a crossover study, 21 older adults (8 males and 13 females) completed different aerobic exercise sessions: low load without BFR (LL) (40% VO2max), low load with BFR (LL-BFR) (40% VO2max + 50% BFR) and high load without BFR (HL) (70% VO2max). Heart rate variability and haemodynamic responses were recorded during rest and throughout 30 min of recovery. HL reduced R–R interval, the root mean square of successive difference of R–R intervals and high frequency during 30 min of recovery at a greater magnitude compared with LL and LL-BFR. Sympathetic–vagal balance increased the values for HL during 30 min of recovery at a greater magnitude when compared with LL and LL-BFR. Post-exercise haemodynamic showed reduced values of double product at 30 min of recovery compared to rest in LL-BFR, while HL showed higher values compared to rest, LL-BFR and LL. Reduced systolic blood pressure was observed for LL-BFR (30 min) compared to rest. Autonomic and haemodynamic responses indicate lower cardiovascular stress after LL-BFR compared to HL, being this method, besides the functional adaptations, a potential choice to attenuate the cardiovascular stress after exercise in older adults.

Cardiovascular Responses to Different Resistance Exercise Protocols in Elderly

Increase in muscle mass and strength through resistance exercise (RE) has been highly recommended for healthy aging. On the other hand, RE could lead to acute cardiovascular risks prompted mainly by intense blood pressure elevations and cardiac autonomic imbalance. We compared the cardiovascular responses to three different RE protocols performed by 21 healthy elderly on a leg press machine. The protocols tested were high load (80% 1RM) until muscular failure (HL); low load (30% 1RM) until muscular failure (LL); low load, 30 repetitions followed by 3 sets of 15 repetitions, with 50% blood flow restriction (LL-BFR); and a control session (CON). Based on heart rate variability analysis, only LL kept parasympathetic indexes lower than CON at 30 min recovery. By finger photoplethysmography, LL-BFR prompted higher systolic and mainly diastolic blood pressure increments in many sets. The heart rate and cardiac output increase, and total peripheral resistance reduction following exercise were not different among RE protocols. There was no significant post-exercise hypotension and carotid arterial compliance changes. HL seems to be the safer protocol to be recommended for the healthy elderly, because it induces lower blood pressure increments and faster parasympathetic recovery compared to LL and LL-BFR.

Effect of resistance training on inflammatory markers of older adults: A meta-analysis.

Introduction Low‐grade inflammation is associated with several deleterious health outcomes and may aggravate sarcopenia and dynapenia during aging. A strategy to alleviate these conditions is resistance training (RT). Thus, the aim was to critically examine the effects of regular RT on inflammatory markers of older adults from previous studies. Methods The search was conducted on MEDLINE, July 2017. Only randomized controlled trials (RCTs) testing RT effects on C‐reactive protein (CRP), tumor necrosis factor‐&agr; (TNF‐&agr;) and/or interleukin‐6 (IL‐6) of adults over 50 years‐of‐age were selected by two independent reviewers. Results The main meta‐analyses showed RT reduced CRP in older adults (standard mean difference [SMD] = −0.61, 95%CI = −0.83; −0.31, p < 0.001), tended to reduce IL‐6 (SMD = −0.19, 95%CI = −0.42; 0.02, p = 0.07) and did not change TNF‐&agr;. Further exploratory sub‐group analyses showed a potential association of muscle mass for both CRP and TNF‐&agr; changes. Reductions in CRP and TNF‐&agr; only occurred in RCTs performing a higher number of exercises (>8), higher weekly frequency (3 times/week) and longer durations than 12 weeks. Conclusions Anti‐inflammatory effects of RT were significant only for CRP with a tendency for a decrease in IL‐6 as well. The exploratory analyses suggested the reduction in inflammatory markers could be dependent on increases in muscle mass and higher volume of RT protocols. These potential mediators of RT anti‐inflammatory effects should be addressed in future meta‐analyses to clarify the effects of RT on inflammatory markers of older adults with very specific conditions and larger numbers of studies. HighlightsResistance Training reduces chronic inflammation in elderly;Changes in body composition are determinant on the anti‐inflammatory effects of RT;Control of intensity, volume and duration of the RT protocols can improve its anti‐inflammatory effects in elderly.

Resistance Training Prevents Muscle Loss Induced by Caloric Restriction in Obese Elderly Individuals: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

It remains unclear as to what extent resistance training (RT) can attenuate muscle loss during caloric restriction (CR) interventions in humans. The objective here is to address if RT could attenuate muscle loss induced by CR in obese elderly individuals, through summarized effects of previous studies. Databases MEDLINE, Embase and Web of Science were used to perform a systematic search between July and August 2017. Were included in the review randomized clinical trials (RCT) comparing the effects of CR with (CRRT) or without RT on lean body mass (LBM), fat body mass (FBM), and total body mass (BM), measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, on obese elderly individuals. The six RCTs included in the review applied RT three times per week, for 12 to 24 weeks, and most CR interventions followed diets of 55% carbohydrate, 15% protein, and 30% fat. RT reduced 93.5% of CR-induced LBM loss (0.819 kg [0.364 to 1.273]), with similar reduction in FBM and BM, compared with CR. Furthermore, to address muscle quality, the change in strength/LBM ratio tended to be different (p = 0.07) following CRRT (20.9 ± 23.1%) and CR interventions (−7.5 ± 9.9%). Our conclusion is that CRRT is able to prevent almost 100% of CR-induced muscle loss, while resulting in FBM and BM reductions that do not significantly differ from CR.

EFFECT OF COMBINED TRAINING ON THE HYPERTENSIVE ELDERLY QUALITY OF LIFE

One of the most prevalent diseases in the elderly is hypertension, which even when controlled, can also affect the quality of life (QoL) of this population. Habits such as regular exercise can reduce blood pressure at rest, during physical effort and provide other benefits to hypertensive individuals. Resistance and aerobic training, promote complementary health benefits that indirectly increases elderly QoL, being the main ones the increases in strength and aerobic fitness, respectively. Although combined training (CT) (resistance plus aerobic exercises) is recommended for the health of the elderly and hypertensive, but the specifical effect of QoL pattern on hypertensive population is uncertain. Therefore, WHOQOL-bref questionary (containing 26 subjective issues, divided into four domains physical, psychological, social and environmental) was applied to assess the profile of each individual QoL, pre and post-CT or control period (without exercise). Sexteen weeks of CT increased, the physical and environmental domains of QoL, as well as the total QoL scores different of control group (CG); leading us to conclude it is effective therapy for hipertensive eldelry, therefore we conclude with the present study that the CT protocol for 16-weeks was able to improve the QoL scores.