Do older people with poor sleep quality have worse cardiac autonomic control?

Objective: To identify the differences in cardiac autonomic control between older people with good and poor sleep quality. Material and Methods: This is a cross-sectional study with 40 older people aged ≥ 60 years, registered at a community health center in Petrolina, Pernambuco, Brazil. The sleep quality was assessed with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). To assess heart rate variability (HRV), the RR intervals (RRI) were recorded for 10 min with a validated smartphone app and a wireless transmitter Polar H7 positioned on the patient's chest. The HRV parameters were calculated with Kubios HRV, and the data were analyzed in SPSS. Subjects with good and poor sleep quality (PSQI >5) were compared with the Mann-Whitney U test. Results: A total of 31 older people were included in the final analysis, with 18 (58.1%) of them having poor sleep quality. Older people with good sleep quality have similar cardiac autonomic control to those with poor sleep quality. The medians of time (mean RRI, pNN50, SDNN, and RMSSD) and frequency-domain HRV parameters (LFms2, LFnu, HFms2, HFnu, and LF/HF ratio) were statistically similar (p > .05) in older people with good and poor sleep quality. According to the effect size, the HRV indicators were slightly better among those with good sleep quality. Conclusion: There were no statistical differences in cardiac autonomic control between older people with good and poor sleep quality.

Exercise Training Plus Sildenafil Treatment: Role on Autonomic and Inflammatory Markers.

The current study aimed to determine the effects of sildenafil-associated aerobic exercise training (ET) on the physical performance, hemodynamic, autonomic and inflammatory parameters of rats. Male Wistar rats were randomly assigned to: sedentary rats placebo-treated (SP); sedentary rats sildenafil-treated (SS); trained rats placebo-treated (TP); and trained rats sildenafil-treated (TS). Sildenafil treatment consisted of 8 weeks of daily oral gavage (1.5 mg/kg), one hour before the session of ET (60-75% of maximal running speed, 5 days/week, for 8 weeks). After ET period, physical capacity, hemodynamic, autonomic and skeletal muscle inflammatory profile were assessed. Chronic sildenafil treatment causes an additional increase of physical capacity in aerobically trained rats. However, these beneficial effects were accompanied by unwanted alterations, as increased of arterial pressure and peripheral sympathetic modulation, as well as exacerbated inflammatory status on skeletal muscle of rats. Taken together, these data suggest the positive and negative effects of sildenafil chronic administration, associated to aerobic ET, at doses used in clinical practice. This report stresses the importance of paying greater attention to the indiscriminate use of this substance in high-performance sports.