title: Water intake accelerates parasympathetic reactivation after high-intensity exercise.
abstract: It has been shown that water intake (WI) improves postexercise parasympathetic recovery after moderate-intensity exercise session. However, the potential cardiovascular benefit promoted by WI has not been investigated after high-intensity exercise.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To assess the effects of WI on post high-intensity parasympathetic recovery.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twelve recreationally active young men participated in the study (22 ± 1.4 years, 24.1 ± 1.6 kg.m(-2)). The experimental protocol consisted of two visits to the laboratory. Each visit consisted in the completion of a 30-min high-intensity [~80% of maximal heart rate (HR)] cycle ergometer aerobic session performing randomly the WI or control (CON, no water consumption) intervention at the end of the exercise. HR and RR intervals (RRi) were continuously recorded by a heart rate monitor before, during and after the exercise. Differences in HR recovery [e.g., absolute heart rate decrement after 1 min of recovery (HRR60s) and time-constant of the first order exponential fitting curve of the HRR (HRRτ)] and in postexercise vagal-related heart rate variability (HRV) indexes (rMSSD30s, rMSSD, pNN50, SD1 and HF) were calculated and compared for WI and CON.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A similar HR recovery and an increased postexercise HRV [SD1 = 9.4 ± 5.9 vs. 6.0 ± 3.9 millisecond, HF(ln) = 3.6 ± 1.4 vs. 2.4 ± 1.3 millisecond(2), for WI and CON, respectively; p < .05] was observed in WI compared with CON.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results suggest that WI accelerates the postexercise parasympathetic reactivation after high-intensity exercise. Such outcome reveals an important cardioprotective effect of WI.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Motor Assessment, Faculty of Physical Education and Sports, Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
authors.forename: Tiago
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Peçanha
authors.forename: Marcelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Paula-Ribeiro
authors.forename: Edson
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Campana-Rezende
authors.forename: Rhenan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bartels
authors.forename: João Carlos
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Marins
authors.forename: Jorge Roberto
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: de Lima
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001642:Bicycling; D004326:Drinking; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology*; D005080:Exercise Test; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010275:Parasympathetic Nervous System / Q000502:physiology*; D005082:Physical Exertion / Q000502:physiology*; D014867:Water / Q000494:pharmacology*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D014867:Water