João Paulo Pereira Rosa

Low-Grade Inflammation and Spinal Cord Injury: Exercise as Therapy?

An increase in the prevalence of obesity in people with spinal cord injury can contribute to low-grade chronic inflammation and increase the risk of infection in this population. A decrease in sympathetic activity contributes to immunosuppression due to the lower activation of immune cells in the blood. The effects of physical exercise on inflammatory parameters in individuals with spinal cord injury have not been well described. We conducted a review of the literature published from 1974 to 2012. This review explored the relationships between low-grade inflammation, spinal cord injury, and exercise to discuss a novel mechanism that might explain the beneficial effects of exercise involving an increase in catecholamines and cytokines in people with spinal cord injury.

2016 Rio Olympic Games: Can the schedule of events compromise athletes’ performance?

ABSTRACT The organizing committee of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games recently announced that some of the preliminary and final competitions will be held at night. The present article discusses the potential harmful effects of these late-night competitions on sleep, circadian rhythms and athletic performance during the Olympic Games. Specifically, night-time competition could lead to injury and may compromise an athlete’s decision-making, attentional, physiological and other processes. Consequently, these impacts could negatively affect the performance of athletes and their teams. Thus, it is suggested that technical commissions take special care when creating strategies to minimize harm to the athletes by considering factors such as light exposure, melatonin intake, sleep hygiene and scheduled naps, and training at local competition time. Furthermore, it is necessary for specialists in chronobiology and sleep to engage with members of the national teams to develop an activity schedule for physical, technical, tactical and psychological preparation that accounts for circadian rhythms, thereby creating the best possible environment for the athletes to achieve their ideal performance.

Sleep quality and psychobiological aspects of Brazilian Paralympic athletes in the London 2012 pre-Paralympics period

O objetivo do estudo foi avaliar os aspectos psicobiologicos de atletas da modalidade de atletismo Paralimpico, antes dos Jogos Paralimpicos de Londres de 2012. Foram avaliados 40 atletas, sem 31 homens e 9 mulheres que foram convocados pelo Comite Paralimpico Brasileiro para fazer parte da Delegacao Brasileira. Para a avaliacao dos aspectos psicobiologicos nos utilizamos os questionarios: Inventario de Ansiedade Traco-Estado, POMS, Inventario de Depressao de Beck, questionario de Pittsburgh Escala de Epworth para avaliar, respectivamente, a ansiedade, o humor, a depressao, o sono e a sonolencia. Para ansiedade-traco e ansiedade-estado os atletas apresentaram nivel medio de ansiedade, em relacao ao perfil dos estados de humor, a dimensao vigor apresentou valores mais altos do que as outras dimensoes. O tempo total de sono foi menor em atletas com o sono ruim, a eficiencia de sono foi menor em atletas com sono ruim e o tempo total de sono foi menor para quem teve eficiencia < 85%. Todas as variaveis psicobiologicas avaliadas no periodo pre-competitivo estavam dentro da normalidade para os atletas da equipe Paralimpica Brasileira de atletismo que participaram dos Jogos Paralimpicos de Londres 2012.O objetivo do estudo foi avaliar os aspectos psicobiologicos de atletas da modalidade de atletismo Paralimpico, antes dos Jogos Paralimpicos de Londres de 2012. Foram avaliados 40 atletas, sem 31 homens e 9 mulheres que foram convocados pelo Comite Paralimpico Brasileiro para fazer parte da Delegacao Brasileira. Para a avaliacao dos aspectos psicobiologicos nos utilizamos os questionarios: Inventario de Ansiedade Traco-Estado, POMS, Inventario de Depressao de Beck, questionario de Pittsburgh Escala de Epworth para avaliar, respectivamente, a ansiedade, o humor, a depressao, o sono e a sonolencia. Para ansiedade-traco e ansiedade-estado os atletas apresentaram nivel medio de ansiedade, em relacao ao perfil dos estados de humor, a dimensao vigor apresentou valores mais altos do que as outras dimensoes. O tempo total de sono foi menor em atletas com o sono ruim, a eficiencia de sono foi menor em atletas com sono ruim e o tempo total de sono foi menor para quem teve eficiencia < 85%. Todas as variaveis psicobiologicas avaliadas no periodo pre-competitivo estavam dentro da normalidade para os atletas da equipe Paralimpica Brasileira de atletismo que participaram dos Jogos Paralimpicos de Londres 2012.

Chronic Exercise Promotes Alterations in the Neuroendocrine Profile of Elderly People

Aging and physical inactivity are 2 factors that favour the development of cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, obesity, and diabetes. In contrast, adopting a habitual moderate exercise routine may be a nonpharmacological treatment alternative for neuroendocrine aging disorders. We aimed to assess the effects of moderate exercise training on the metabolic profiles of elderly people with sedentary lifestyles. Fourteen sedentary, healthy, elderly male volunteers participated in a moderate training regimen for 60 min/day, 3 days/week for 24 weeks at a work rate equivalent to their ventilatory aerobic threshold. The environment was maintained at a temperature of 23±2°C, with a humidity of 60±5%. Blood samples for analysis were collected at 3 intervals: at baseline (1 week before training began), and 3 and 6 months after training. The training promoted increased aerobic capacity (relative VO(2), and time and velocity to VO(2)max; (p<0.05)) and reduced serum α-MSH (p<0.05) after 3 months of training when compared with the baseline data. In addition, serum thyroid hormone (T3 and T4) was reduced after 6 months of training compared with baseline levels. Our results demonstrate that a moderate exercise training protocol improves the metabolic profile of older people, and metabolic adaptation is dependent on time.

Effect of bright light therapy on delayed sleep/wake cycle and reaction time of athletes participating in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games

ABSTRACT This study investigated the effect of using an artificial bright light on the entrainment of the sleep/wake cycle as well as the reaction times of athletes before the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. A total of 22 athletes from the Brazilian Olympic Swimming Team were evaluated, with the aim of preparing them to compete at a time when they would normally be about to go to bed for the night. During the 8-day acclimatization period, their sleep/wake cycles were assessed by actigraphy, with all the athletes being treated with artificial light therapy for between 30 and 45 min (starting at day 3). In addition, other recommendations to improve sleep hygiene were made to the athletes. In order to assess reaction times, the Psychomotor Vigilance Test was performed before (day 1) and after (day 8) the bright light therapy. As a result of the intervention, the athletes slept later on the third (p = 0.01), seventh (p = 0.01) and eighth (p = 0.01) days after starting bright light therapy. Regarding reaction times, when tested in the morning the athletes showed improved average (p = 0.01) and minimum reaction time (p = 0.03) when comparing day 8 to day 1. When tested in the evening, they showed improved average (p = 0.04), minimum (p = 0.03) and maximum reaction time (p = 0.02) when comparing day 8 to day 1. Light therapy treatment delayed the sleep/wake cycles and improved reaction times of members of the swimming team. The use of bright light therapy was shown to be effective in modulating the sleep/wake cycles of athletes who had to perform in competitions that took place late at night.

Analysis of the body composition of Paralympic athletes: Comparison of two methods

Abstract Body composition is a physiological variable associated with physical activity and, in some cases, is related to athletic performance. Our objectives were to describe the body composition of participants in three distinct Paralympic sports and to compare the values of body density and estimated body fat obtained from the Paralympic athletes on the National Team by air-displacement plethysmography (ADP) and by the anthropometric method (skinfolds (SFs)). The sample consisted of 70 volunteers of both genders. The body composition of the volunteers was evaluated using the ADP in a Bod Pod® and seven SFs. There were no significant differences between the values obtained by ADP and SF for body fat percentage (p = .58) and body density (p = .49). Analysis by Bland–Altman plots showed mean differences of 0.56 ± 4.94 (−9.12–10.23) and −0.0017 ± 0.0113 (−0.024–0.020) for body fat percentage and body density, respectively. In conclusion, body composition analyses of Paralympic athletes by the ADP and SF methods show similar results, and ADP should be used as the first option when available. When the use of ADP is not possible, estimating body density and fat percentage by SF is a viable alternative for Paralympic athletes when future comparisons will use the same analysis method.