Non-Invasive Assessment of Ultra-Short Time Heart Rate Variability During Wingate Test

The aim of present study was to investigate the sedentary healthy men’s ultra-short heart rate variability (HRV) during the Wingate Anaerobic Test (WAnT) (30-sec) and parasympathetic reactivation in the first 60-sec after WAnT. The final sample comprised 101 individuals (Mean±SD; Age=28.9±4.8 years, Height=176.5±5.5 cm, Weight=89.8±8.8 kg). Anaerobic powers were measured by WAnT. Heart rate variability (HRV) was then recorded as 60-sec before the test for 30-sec and 60-sec after the test. HRV was measured by Polar V800 GPS Sports Watch with Heart Rate Monitor and Polar H7 band. To compare the testing stages HRV parameters, repeated one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used. Binary comparisons were determined with the Bonferroni test. The relationship between exercise data of heart rate variability and power average watt was assessed by the Pearson correlation test. The Effect Size Cohen's d was calculated. The main finding of this study is that pre-test (60-sec) HRV values continue to drop dramatically during test (30-sec) and post-test (60-sec) measurements (p<0.05). Also, no correlation was observed between performance and HRV data during testing (r=-0.08, p>0.05). In conclusion, the present study was not observed to sign of HRV recovery during 60-sec after the 30-sec WAnT. HRV recorded in the first 60 seconds after maximum anaerobic exercise program in sedentary healthy men may be considered to exhibit an imbalance in the parasympathetic activity of the autonomic nervous system.