Effects of Aerobic Exercise on Cardiovascular-Autonomic Function and Self-Evaluation in Healthy Type A Individuals

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The purpose of this study was to clarify the effects of aerobic exercise training on cardiovascular-autonomic function in healthy Type A individuals. Seventy eight participants were first recruited by the local newspaper, and 14 male and 14 female individuals of them were chosen as subjects in this study by the Type A behavior pattern (TABP) questionnaire. Then, the subjects were randomly assigned to the 9-week aerobic exercise training (AE) and the waiting-list control (WC) groups. The cardiovascular-autonomic function was assessed during the mental task by the spectral component analysis of electrocardiographic R-R interval variability for both subject groups prior to and following the training period. In addition, weight and ventilatory threshold (VT) as a physical fitness index were also compared between the pre-and post-training. Results revealed that while the AE group improved their VTs and decreased their weights following the training, the WC group didn't. The AE group showed a significantly greater power of high frequency obtained by the spectral component analysis, which indicates enhanced cardiovascular-parasympathetic (CP) function, for the AE group following compared to that prior to the training period. However, the AE group didn't show the improvement on the subscores of TABP.Some of the measures of perceived change had significantly greater scores for the AE group, relative to the WC group, after the training period. These results suggest that aerobic exercise training contributes to the enhancement of CP function and indirectly to the prevention of cardiovascular diseases for Type A individuals, although it may not influence TABP itself.