Researchers from the Department of Nutrition, Food and Exercise Sciences at Florida State University have published the results of a study looking at whether resistance exercise training would improve the heart rate variability of women with FM. The study results were e-published ahead of print in Clinical physiology and functional imaging.
According to the study’s authors, heart rate variability is reduced in individuals with FM which increases their risk for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality (as regularly increasing your heart rate, e.g. through aerobic exercise, decreases your risk of heart problems). The study tested the hypothesis that resistance exercise training improves heart rate variability, baroreflex sensitivity (how well the body can return blood pressure to normal after a stimulus) and muscle strength in women with FM.
Ten women with FM and 9 healthy controls were compared at baseline and then the women with FM underwent supervised resistance exercise training 2 days per week for 16 weeks.
At baseline, low-frequency power and baroreflex sensitivity were lower, and heart rate and pulse pressure were higher in women with FM than in healthy controls. After resistance exercise training , total power increased and so did the amount of variability in the heart rate of the women with FM (as measured by the log transformed squared root of the standard deviation of RR interval - RMSSD). Upper and lower body muscle strength also increased by 63% and 49%, and pain perception decreased by 39% in women with FM. There were no changes in baroreflex sensitivity, heart rate and blood pressure after resistance exercise training.
The study’s authors said that:
“Our study demonstrates that [resistance exercise training] improves total power, cardiac parasympathetic tone, pain perception and muscle strength in women with FM who had autonomic dysfunction before the exercise programme.”
