Effect of increasing running velocity on electroencephalogram in a field test

Abstract

This study was designed to measure the electroencephalogram (EEG) after exercise with increasing intensity. In a field test with increments in running velocity a 2-min EEG was recorded, together with blood lactate concentration and heart rate, after each stage. An individual protocol was used, with up to six stages of running to ensure comparability of exercise intensity among the subjects, in each of 19 athletes (17 men, 2 women) experienced in leisure-time running. The exercise consisted initially of three running stages of aerobic exercise intensity without blood lactate accumulation followed by stages with an increase of lactate concentration. The protocol of the field test led to a progressive increase in cortical activity directly after the stages without blood lactate accumulation mainly in the delta frequency band, followed by theta and alpha-1 frequency band, and less pronounced in the alpha-2 and in the beta frequency bands. After the stages with an onset and further increase of blood lactate accumulation significant decreases in the beta-2, beta-1 and alpha-1 frequency bands occurred predominantly in temporal (T3, T4, T5, and T6) and occipital (O1, and O2) electrode positions, indicating a stage-by-stage decrease of activity. This decrease may be explained by feed-back from working muscle, via afferents to the cortex from intero- and proprio-receptors and affective processes. This could suggest that through a higher running intensity indicated by an onset of blood lactate accumulation metabolic and mechanical changes led to alterations within the afferent systems influencing the level of cortical activity.

Beta and alpha electroencephalographic activity changes after acute exercise

“…however, other studies that found relevant outcomes in this band analyzed raw absolute power values 3 . Due to the lack of normality in EEG data, they should be previously treated with a log power transformation 25,26 .…”

“…Measurements of quantitative electroencephalography (qEEG) are used to describe functional topographical alterations of cortical activity in fatigue states, e.g., sleep deprivation 1,2 . In this context, it has been suggested that EEG might be especially appopriate for examining the effects of physical fatigue caused by maximal exercise 3 . Changes in the brain electrical activity following exercise might be caused by different factors, such as: changes in body temperature and arousal levels by hypothalamic modulation 4,5 , alterations in cerebral blood flow 6,7 and individual emotional state 8,9 .…”

Exercise training‐induced changes in sensitivity to endothelin‐1 and aortic and cerebellum lipid profile in rats

“…This physiological condition has been described as producing beneficial adaptive changes in the cardiovascular (17)(18)(19) and nervous systems (20)(21)(22)(23) and altering the endogenous level of ET-1 (13). In experiments where vascular tissue was studied, intact aortic strips were chosen, and when nervous system was analyzed, slices of cerebral cortex (the brain area influenced by afferent systems from working muscle and emotional processes) and cerebellum (the brain area involved in the motor processes) were used.…”

“…Since aortic blood flow increases during treadmill training in the rat (16), it is conceivable that chronic exercise induces adaptive changes in the aorta, thereby contributing somehow to the modification of aortic function, as has been widely reported (17)(18)(19). In addition, there is evidence of exercise-induced changes in the nervous system (20)(21)(22)(23), and it has been suggested that in the brain these changes might be mediated, at least in part, through neuroregulatory feedback from arterial baroreceptors to the brain (24). On the other hand, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases are known to be associated with cellular apoptosis (2,3) and with oxidative stress or the vulnerability to it (25).…”

Modifications in the human EEG during extralong physical activity

“…Both fitness in general [1][2][3][4] and acute physical activity [5,7] exert clearly detectable effects on the human EEG. Because until today these effects have been investigated only for relatively short or moderate exercise intervals that did not exceed 1 or 2 h (for a review see [8]), we addressed this question by recording EEG data during an extralong (24 h) physical exercise.…”