Acute effects of long-distance races on heart rate variability and arterial stiffness: A systematic review and meta-analysis

ABSTRACT

This study systematically reviewed and quantified the effects of running a long-distance race (LDR) on heart rate variability (HRV) and arterial stiffness (AS). All types of races of a distance equal to or greater than a marathon (≥42.2 km) were included. A total of 2,220 articles were identified, 52 were included in the qualitative analysis, and 48 were meta-analysed. The standardised mean difference pre- and post-race of various time-domain and frequency-domain indices of HRV, mean arterial blood pressure (MAP), systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV) was calculated. Regarding HRV, there was a significant decrease in most of the variables considered as markers of parasympathetic activity, indicating a shift of autonomic balance towards a reduced vagal tone. Regarding vascular variables, there was a significant drop in blood pressure and reduced AS. In conclusion, running an LDR seems to have a considerable acute effect on the autonomic nervous system, haemodynamics, and vascular properties. The observed effects could be categorised within the expected acute responses to long-lasting, strenuous exercise.

KEYWORDS:

• Autonomic nervous system
• heart rate variability
• arterial stiffness
• long-distance races
• running

Supplemental data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2021.1986276.

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the collaboration of the authors of the articles included in the review Dr Joan Carles Trullàs and Dr Lukasz A. Malek, for their help in providing data from their study when contacted. Also, the authors would like to acknowledge the assistance offered by Dr Jorge Marín-Puyalto in the statistical treatment of the data.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author’s contributions

All authors have given substantial contributions to the conception and the design of the manuscript, acquisition, analysis and interpretation of the data. All authors have participated in drafting the manuscript and revised it critically. All authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported that there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.