The effect of brief exercise cessation on pain, fatigue, and mood symptom development in healthy, fit individuals.

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The effect of brief exercise cessation on pain, fatigue, and mood symptom

development in healthy, fit individuals.

 

Glass JM, Lyden AK, Petzke F, Stein P, Whalen G, Ambrose K, Chrousos G, Clauw

DJ.

 

Department of Psychiatry and Institute for Social Research, University of

Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA. jglass

 

OBJECTIVE: Abnormalities of the biological stress response

(hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and the autonomic nervous system) have been

identified in both fibromyalgia (FM) and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS).

 

Although these changes have been considered to be partly responsible for symptom

expression, we examine an alternative hypothesis that these HPA and autonomic

changes can be found in subsets of healthy individuals in the general population

who may be at risk of developing these conditions.

 

Exposure to " stressors " (e.g., infections, trauma, etc.) may lead to symptom

expression (pain, fatigue, and other somatic symptoms) in part by precipitating

lifestyle changes. In particular, we focus on the effect of deprivation of

routine aerobic exercise on the development of somatic symptoms.

 

METHODS: Eighteen regularly exercising (>/=4 h/week) asymptomatic, healthy

adults refrained from physical activity for 1 week. We predicted that a subset

of these individuals would develop symptoms of FM/CFS with exercise deprivation,

and this manuscript focuses on the baseline HPA axis, immune, and autonomic

function measures that may predict the development of symptoms.

 

RESULTS: Eight of the subjects reported a 10% increase in one or more symptoms

(pain, fatigue, mood) after 1 week of exercise deprivation.

 

These symptomatic subjects had lower HPA axis (baseline cortisol prior to

VO2max testing), immune (NK cell responsiveness to venipuncture), and autonomic

function (measured by heart rate variability) at baseline (prior to cessation of

exercise) when compared to the subjects who did not develop symptoms.

 

CONCLUSIONS: A subset of subjects developed symptoms of pain, fatigue, or mood

changes after exercise deprivation. This cohort was different from the

individuals who did not develop symptoms in baseline measures of HPA axis,

immune, and autonomic function.

 

We speculate that a subset of healthy individuals who have hypoactive function

of the biological stress response systems unknowingly exercise regularly to

augment the function of these systems and thus suppress symptoms. These

individuals may be at risk for developing chronic multisymptom illnesses (CMIs)

(e.g., FM or CFS among others) when a " stressor " leads to lifestyle changes that

disrupt regular exercise.

 

PMID: 15518675 [PubMed - in process]

 

 

 

 

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