Comparison of postexercise heart rate recovery times between athletes and nonathletes in Saudi Arabia

Export Introduction: Athletes have a higher heart rate (HR) in the recovery period than nonathletes due to a high level of cardiovascular fitness. The autonomic nervous system regulates the HR, which is divided into parasympathetic and sympathetic activity. Quick HR recovery (HRR) following exercise is connected to high aerobic capacity. Confounding factors, such as testing convention, genetic polymorphism, condition of fatigue, and potentially age and gender, should be considered when explaining the changes in HRR. Each study should investigate these factors as a commitment to the information pool when understanding the HRR. Materials and Methods: This study involved 56 male participants from Jazan University, Saudi Arabia, who underwent a clinical assessment and questionnaire to assess their health status. There were several equipment included such as a treadmill, sphygmomanometer, pulse oximeter, Apple watch, running shoes, and comfortable clothes. Results: The results showed that the time for HRR in the athletes group was lower than the nonathletes group. Athletes had a significantly lower body mass index and body fat percentage compared to nonathletes. For athlete subjects, the speed of HRR was about 4.5 times faster than nonathlete subjects after adjusting for all included factors. The present study also found that there was a clear positive effect on the speed of HRR and its relationship with height and percentage of body fat. Conclusion: In conclusion, the HRR was significantly higher in athletes than nonathletes. Thus, it would be interesting to track this idea in future studies with different sub-population of athletes.