A Follow‐Up Longitudinal Study of Selected Physiologic Functions in Former Physical Education Students–After Forty Years

Reported is the continuation of follow-up investigations of certain physiologic functions in former physical education students. The first follow-up study was conducted about 30 years after the initial measurements. The present follow-up study concerned a re-investigation of the same group (23 men and 11 women), 10 years later, i.e., about 40 years after the first examination. Resting values for heart rate, blood pressure and metabolism were determined, as well as values for lung volume, hand-grip strength, and reaction time. During moderately hard exercise, measurements were made of oxygen uptake, ventilatory equivalents, and heart rate. By extrapolation of these heart-rate determinations to "maximal heart rate," the maximal oxygen uptake was estimated and expressed as L times min-1 and as ml x min-1 and as ml times kg-1 x min-1. The data show a general deterioration in practically all the physiologic functions studied, most pronounced during the last 10 years of the 40-year period.