Variables Influencing Heart Rate Recovery in Healthy Individuals: A Systematic Review

Purpose: Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death worldwide, highlighting the necessity of timely cardiovascular risk prediction and the management of risk factors to mitigate their incidence. Heart rate recovery (HRR) serves as a noninvasive, long-term predictor of cardiovascular risk and subsequent mortality across populations. Therefore, the aim of this study was to identify which exercise-related variables and individual characteristics influence HRR in the healthy population. Review Methods: A systematic search was conducted in PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Medline, CINAHL, SPORTDiscus, PEDro, and Cochrane. The articles were required to have samples consisting exclusively of healthy patients without cardiovascular risk factors. The analyzed variables had to include HRR, and the experimental design needed to be based on quantitative studies. Summary: As results, 16 articles were included. Eight of them analyzed variables associated with exercise characteristics (intensity, duration, modality, or different postures during pre- and postexercise periods), while the other eight focused on individual characteristics (age, sex, menstrual cycle, cardiorespiratory fitness, body fat percentage, birth weight, prematurity, or waist-to-height ratio) following one or multiple sessions of aerobic exercise in predominantly young male samples. In conclusion, exercise intensity, involvement of the upper limbs, exercise performed under normal conditions, prior postural changes, and activation of the muscle mechanoreflex influenced HRR. Individual characteristics that also influenced it included sex, cardiorespiratory fitness, waist–stature ratio, arterial stiffness, prematurity, and birth weight.