Cardiac Autonomic Effects of Yearly Athletic Retreats on Elite Basket Players: Usefulness of a Unitary Autonomic Nervous System Indicator

Daniela Lucini, Leonarda Galiuto, Mara Malacarne, Maria Chiara Meucci and Massimo Pagani
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Daniela Lucini: BIOMETRA Department, University of Milan, Via Festa del Perdono, 7, 20122 Milan, Italy
Leonarda Galiuto: Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS, Largo Agostino Gemelli, 8, 00168 Rome, Italy
Mara Malacarne: BIOMETRA Department, University of Milan, Via Festa del Perdono, 7, 20122 Milan, Italy
Maria Chiara Meucci: Department of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Sciences, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Largo Francesco Vito, 1, 00168 Rome, Italy
Massimo Pagani: BIOMETRA Department, University of Milan, Via Festa del Perdono, 7, 20122 Milan, Italy

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 4, 1-14

Abstract: In most sports athletic performance is determined by a combination of hard and soft modifiable components, encompassing physical and psychological elements that can be assessed with modern techniques based respectively on simple friendly methods: analysis of HRV and questionnaires. Specifically a novel % rank Autonomic Nervous System Indicator (ANSI) seems particularly useful also in elite sports. In this investigation we assessed ANSI capacity to detect the expected changes in cardiac autonomic regulation induced in the Italian basketball team by the participation (18 subjects) to the yearly biweekly Alpine training summer camp. We observed that ANSI increased from 58.8 ± 32.5 to 81.7 ± 27.5 (at the end of training camp) and did not change further in the subsequent initial weeks of competition season (overall p < 0.001). Congruent changes were observed in non-linear indices. Concomitantly indices of somatic symptoms were slightly reduced just at the end of the alpine training. We conclude that analysis of HRV and questionnaires might offer a simple, useful technique to monitor changes in cardiac autonomic regulation and psychological state in elite athletes providing a convenient additional element to evaluation of training routines also in the fields.

Keywords: team sports; autonomic cardiac regulation; spectral analysis; stress; training (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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