Monitoring Responses to Basic Military Training with Heart Rate Variability

This study examines the suitability of overnight HRV as a repeated measure of allostatic load in defense personnel. Methods Daily measures of sleep, cognitive load, and perceived exertion were reported for the 12-wk duration of basic military training (BMT) in 48 recruits. Physical activity, subjective well-being, and HRV were measured weekly. The natural log of the root mean square of successive differences of interbeat intervals (Ln RMSSD) and the Ln RMSSD to interbeat interval ratio (Ln RMSSD:RRi ratio) during predicted slow wave sleep were used for HRV. Physical performance was assessed via the 20-m shuttle run and maximal push-up test in weeks 2 and 8 of BMT with predicted V̇O2 peak values calculated. Results Predicted V̇O2 peak increased from 42.6 ± 4.5 to 48.0 ± 2.7 mL·kg−1·min−1 (P
Source: Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise - Category: Sports Medicine Tags: APPLIED SCIENCES Source Type: research