Purpose: To assess the relationship between emotional eating behavior and heart rate variability in Spanish adolescents during an isometric exercise test.
Methods: Participants included 52 adolescents aged between 13 and 18 years old. Heart rate was continuously recorded at rest (2 minutes) and during the sustained weight test (2 minutes). Linear and nonlinear methods of heart rate variability were assessed and related to the emotional eating behavior divided in two clusters.
Results: Statistically significant differences were observed in linear and non-linear parameters of heart rate variability comparing rest and sustained weight test. An increase in the value of emotional eating in overweight adolescents was founded. During the sustained weight test, there were differences between the two emotional eating clusters regarding the variables peak high frequency power, normalized low frequency power, normalized high frequency power, low frequency/high frequency ratio, and sample entropy. A positive correlation between the emotional eating behavior and the peak high frequency power was observed, though the prediction capacity of the high frequency waves is low it is observed that there is a good fit to the regression line.
Conclusion: Results of this study shows that there was a relationship between vagal tone and emotional eating behavior in adolescents during an isometric exercise, with excessive parasympathetic predominance and sympathetic withdrawal during a physical effort.
Keywords: Adolescents; Autonomic nervous system; Emotional eating behavior; Heart rate variability; Isometric sustained weight test; Obesity.
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