Does Exercise Training Improve Cardiac-Parasympathetic Nervous System Activity in Sedentary People? A Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis

Antonio Casanova-Lizón; Agustín Manresa-Rocamora; Andrew A Flatt; José Manuel Sarabia; Manuel Moya-Ramón

doi:10.3390/ijerph192113899

Does Exercise Training Improve Cardiac-Parasympathetic Nervous System Activity in Sedentary People? A Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Oct 26;19(21):13899. doi: 10.3390/ijerph192113899.

Authors

Antonio Casanova-Lizón¹, Agustín Manresa-Rocamora^{1

2}, Andrew A Flatt³, José Manuel Sarabia^{1

2}, Manuel Moya-Ramón^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Sport Sciences, Sports Research Centre, Miguel Hernández University of Elche, 03202 Alicante, Spain.
² Department of Sport Sciences, Alicante Institute for Health and Biomedical Research (ISABIAL), Miguel Hernandez University, 03010 Alicante, Spain.
³ Department of Health Sciences and Kinesiology, Georgia Southern University-Armstrong Campus, Savannah, GA 31419, USA.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the training-induced effect on cardiac parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) activity, assessed by resting heart rate variability (HRV) and post-exercise heart rate recovery (HRR), in sedentary healthy people. Electronic searches were carried out in PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science. Random-effects models of between-group standardised mean difference (SMD) were estimated. Heterogeneity analyses were performed by means of the chi-square test and I² index. Subgroup analyses and meta-regressions were performed to investigate the influence of potential moderator variables on the training-induced effect. The results showed a small increase in RMSSD (SMD₊ = 0.57 [95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.23, 0.91]) and high frequency (HF) (SMD₊ = 0.21 [95% CI = 0.01, 0.42]) in favour of the intervention group. Heterogeneity tests reached statistical significance for RMSSD and HF (p ≤ 0.001), and the inconsistency was moderate (I² = 68% and 60%, respectively). We found higher training-induced effects on HF in studies that performed a shorter intervention or lower number of exercise sessions (p ≤ 0.001). Data were insufficient to investigate the effect of exercise training on HRR. Exercise training increases cardiac PNS modulation in sedentary people, while its effect on PNS tone requires future study.

Keywords: aerobic training; autonomous nervous system; heart rate recovery; heart rate variability.

Publication types

Meta-Analysis
Systematic Review
Review
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Exercise* / physiology
Heart
Heart Rate / physiology
Humans
Parasympathetic Nervous System*

Grants and funding

The preparation of this article was financially supported by Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Plan Nacional de I + D + I; Ref: PID2019-107721RB-I00). A. Casanova-Lizón was supported by a predoctoral grant given by the Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte, Spain (FPU19/01032).