title: Reliability of resting and postexercise heart rate measures.
abstract: In this study, we compared the reliability of short-term resting heart rate (HR) variability (HRV) and postexercise parasympathetic reactivation (i.e., HR recovery (HRR) and HRV) indices following either submaximal or supramaximal exercise. On 4 different occasions, beat-to-beat HR was recorded in 15 healthy males (21.5 ± 1.4 yr) during 5 min of seated rest, followed by submaximal (Sub) and supramaximal (Supra) exercise bouts; both exercise bouts were followed by 5 min of seated recovery. Reliability of all HR-derived indices was assessed by the typical error of measurement expressed as a coefficient of variation (CV,%). CV for HRV indices ranged from 4 to 17%, 7 to 27% and 41 to 82% for time domain, spectral and ratio indices, respectively. The CV for HRR ranged from 15 to 32%. Spectral CVs for HRV were lower at rest compared with Supra (e.g., natural logarithm of the high frequency range (LnHF); 12.6 vs. 26.2%; P=0.02). HRR reliability was not different between Sub and Supra (25 vs. 14%; P=0.10). The present study found discrepancy in the CVs of vagal-related heart rate indices; a finding that should be appreciated when assessing changes in these variables. Further, Supra exercise was shown to worsen the reliability of HRV-spectral indices.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Recherche, EA 3300 «Adaptations physiologiques à l'exercice et réadaptation à l'effort», Faculté des Sciences du Sport, Université de Picardie Jules Verne, Amiens, France. alhaddad.hani@gmail.com
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Al Haddad
authors.forename: P B
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Laursen
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Chollet
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ahmaidi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Buchheit
mesh_terms: D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology*; D005080:Exercise Test; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014630:Vagus Nerve / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult