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Exercise Heart Rate Variability Suggests Parasympathetic Hyperactivity during Simulated Military Operations Irrespective of Testosterone Administration.

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Title: Exercise Heart Rate Variability Suggests Parasympathetic Hyperactivity during Simulated Military Operations Irrespective of Testosterone Administration.
Authors: LOWE, ADAM C.1, NICLOU, ALEXANDRA1,2,3 alexandra.m.niclou.ctr@health.mil, VARANOSKE, ALYSSA N.4 alyssa.n.varanoske@nasa.gov, HARRIS, MELISSA N.1 melissa.harris@pbrc.edu, HEBERT, CALLIE1 Callie.Hebert@pbrc.edu, JOHANNSEN, NEIL M.1 neil.johannsen@pbrc.edu, HEYMSFIELD, STEVEN B.1 Steven.Heymsfield@pbrc.edu, GREENWAY, FRANK L.1 frank.Greenway@pbrc.edu, MARGOLIS, LEE M.2 lee.m.margolis.civ@health.mil, LIEBERMAN, HARRIS R.2 harris.r.lieberman.civ@health.mil, BEYL, ROBBIE A.1 robbie.beyl@pbrc.edu, FERRANDO, ARNY A.5 AFerrando@uams.edu, PASIAKOS, STEFAN M.2,6 stefan.pasiakos@nih.gov, ROOD, JENNIFER C.1 jennifer.rood@pbrc.edu
Source: Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. Sep2025, Vol. 57 Issue 9, p1979-1987. 9p.
Subject Terms: *Academic medical centers, *Comparative studies, Autonomic nervous system physiology, Testosterone, Heart rate monitoring, Placebos, T-test (Statistics), Research funding, High-intensity interval training, Statistical sampling, Randomized controlled trials, Descriptive statistics, Chi-squared test, Injections, Heart beat, Military service, Data analysis software, Regression analysis
Geographic Terms: United States
Abstract: Introduction: Heart rate variability (HRV), typically measured at rest, is a measure of autonomic balance sensitive to physical and psychological stress. Testosterone supplementation during multistressor military operations may maintain exercise HRV by preventing a decrease in cardiac autonomic tone. The purpose of this study was to assess exercise HRV as a marker of physiological and psychological stress and determine if testosterone administration maintains HRV during extended simulated military operations. Methods: Thirty-two physically active males were enrolled in this parallel arm, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study. Participants were randomized to receive a single injection of testosterone undecanoate (TEST, n = 16) or an isovolumetric placebo (PLA, n = 16) and completed 20 d of simulated operations cycles comprised of low-stress and high-stress days. Simulated operations were comprised of 4 cycles of two low-stress days (LS, ~1000 kcal of exercise-induced energy expenditure [EIEE] and 8 h of sleep) and three high-stress days (HS, ~3000 kcal EIEE, 4 h of sleep). Heart rate was collected during daily load carriage (~30% of body weight) exercise between 0500 and 0800 h. Short-term exercise HRV during this load carriage exercise was assessed through standard deviation of normal-to-normal beats (SDNN), root-mean-square of successive differences (RMSSD) between normal heart beats, low-frequency (LF) and high-frequency (HF) heartbeat sequences, and the ratio of LF to HF (LF/HF). Results: SDNN and RMSSD increased from the first to the last LS day (P = 0.018 and P = 0.003, respectively) and from the first to the last HS day (P = 0.006 and P < 0.001, respectively). LF and HF also increased from the first to the last LS day (P = 0.027 and P = 0.028, respectively) and from the first to the last HS day (P = 0.004 and P = 0.002, respectively), whereas LF/HF was unchanged across these time points (P = 0.800 and P = 0.643, respectively). TEST showed higher LF/HF ratio on LS days (P = 0.006) and HS days (P < 0.001) compared with PLA. Conclusions: Exercise HRV metrics suggested parasympathetic hyperactivity despite concomitant increases in stress across the extended simulated military operations. A single dose of TEST does not appear to negatively affect the autonomic response to high stress in young health physically active males. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise is the property of Lippincott Williams & Wilkins and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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  Data: Exercise Heart Rate Variability Suggests Parasympathetic Hyperactivity during Simulated Military Operations Irrespective of Testosterone Administration.
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  Data: Introduction: Heart rate variability (HRV), typically measured at rest, is a measure of autonomic balance sensitive to physical and psychological stress. Testosterone supplementation during multistressor military operations may maintain exercise HRV by preventing a decrease in cardiac autonomic tone. The purpose of this study was to assess exercise HRV as a marker of physiological and psychological stress and determine if testosterone administration maintains HRV during extended simulated military operations. Methods: Thirty-two physically active males were enrolled in this parallel arm, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study. Participants were randomized to receive a single injection of testosterone undecanoate (TEST, n = 16) or an isovolumetric placebo (PLA, n = 16) and completed 20 d of simulated operations cycles comprised of low-stress and high-stress days. Simulated operations were comprised of 4 cycles of two low-stress days (LS, ~1000 kcal of exercise-induced energy expenditure [EIEE] and 8 h of sleep) and three high-stress days (HS, ~3000 kcal EIEE, 4 h of sleep). Heart rate was collected during daily load carriage (~30% of body weight) exercise between 0500 and 0800 h. Short-term exercise HRV during this load carriage exercise was assessed through standard deviation of normal-to-normal beats (SDNN), root-mean-square of successive differences (RMSSD) between normal heart beats, low-frequency (LF) and high-frequency (HF) heartbeat sequences, and the ratio of LF to HF (LF/HF). Results: SDNN and RMSSD increased from the first to the last LS day (P = 0.018 and P = 0.003, respectively) and from the first to the last HS day (P = 0.006 and P &lt; 0.001, respectively). LF and HF also increased from the first to the last LS day (P = 0.027 and P = 0.028, respectively) and from the first to the last HS day (P = 0.004 and P = 0.002, respectively), whereas LF/HF was unchanged across these time points (P = 0.800 and P = 0.643, respectively). TEST showed higher LF/HF ratio on LS days (P = 0.006) and HS days (P &lt; 0.001) compared with PLA. Conclusions: Exercise HRV metrics suggested parasympathetic hyperactivity despite concomitant increases in stress across the extended simulated military operations. A single dose of TEST does not appear to negatively affect the autonomic response to high stress in young health physically active males. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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  Data: &lt;i&gt;Copyright of Medicine &amp; Science in Sports &amp; Exercise is the property of Lippincott Williams &amp; Wilkins and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder&#39;s express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.&lt;/i&gt; (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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        Value: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000003743
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        Text: English
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        StartPage: 1979
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      – SubjectFull: Comparative studies
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      – SubjectFull: Autonomic nervous system physiology
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      – SubjectFull: Testosterone
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      – SubjectFull: Heart rate monitoring
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      – SubjectFull: High-intensity interval training
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      – SubjectFull: Statistical sampling
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      – SubjectFull: Randomized controlled trials
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      – SubjectFull: Descriptive statistics
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      – SubjectFull: Chi-squared test
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      – SubjectFull: Injections
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      – SubjectFull: Military service
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      – SubjectFull: United States
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      – TitleFull: Exercise Heart Rate Variability Suggests Parasympathetic Hyperactivity during Simulated Military Operations Irrespective of Testosterone Administration.
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              Text: Sep2025
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