Effects of a Warm-up on Immune Response to Exercise

The Effects of a Dynamic Warm up on the Immune Response to Exercise in Lower Fit and Higher Fit Adults

This randomized cross-over study compares two identical cardiorespiratory exercise bouts, differing only in the inclusion or exclusion of a dynamic period of increasing exercise intensity prior to the exercise bout. Planned comparisons include physiological responses and perceived effort during exercise, leukocyte mobilization, and mood between the two exercise sessions.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Physiological and Psychological Responses to Exercise
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Exercise

Detailed Description

Physically active adult men and women are asked to complete three study visits to the laboratory. On Visit 1, participants provide informed consent and are screened for study inclusion criteria: being between 18 and 40 years of age, a non-smoker, not pregnant, free of disease impacting exercise performance or immunity, and performing at least one hour per week of vigorous exercise training (any modality) for at least the prior six months. Participants also complete an incremental submaximal exercise test on a stationary bicycle. The results of this test are used to calculate the resistance corresponding to 80% of estimated maximal heart rate. Participants return within 2-14 days for Visits 2 and 3. These visits consist of 30 min of bicycling at this resistance. One visit included a 10 min dynamic warm-up prior to the exercise bout. Participants were stratified by sex and randomized such that half of the men and women completed the exercise trial with warm-up during Visit 2.

Heart rate, perceived exertion, and wattage are recorded during each minute of the exercise bouts. Participants donate blood before, immediately after, and 1h after each exercise. Blood is analyzed by flow cytometry to characterize leukocyte subsets. After each exercise session, participants complete surveys assessing mood and affect.

Physiological, immunological, and psychological parameters recorded will be compared within participants between the two experimental exercise sessions using appropriate statistical tests. p<0.05 will be accepted as significant.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 24
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Texas
    • Houston, Texas, United States, 77204
      • University of Houston

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 40 years (Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• identifies as exercising 1-3 hours per week or more than 6 hours per week, on average (last 6 months)
• meets American College of Sports Medicine criteria for participation in exercise

Exclusion Criteria:

• underlying medical problems that contraindicate supervised high intensity exercise
• past or present history of autoimmune disease, HIV, hepatitis, stroke, or cardiovascular disease
• chronic/debilitating arthritis
• central or peripheral nervous disorders
• asthma, emphysema, or bronchitis
• bedridden in the past three months
• history of blood clotting disorders
• administration of any medication that might affect physiological response to exercise
• functional or cognitive impairment that would limit exercise performance or prohibit informed consent
• having any common-cold or influenza like symptoms (scratchy throat, runny nose, inflamed sinuses, frequent sneezing or coughing) in the last 2 weeks
• pregnancy
• tobacco use

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Basic Science
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Crossover Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Warm-up, then no warm-up; Participants' visit 2 included 10 minutes of gradually increasing intensity prior to the 30 minute exercise session. Participants' visit 3 consisted of the 30 minute exercise session without a warm-up.	Behavioral: Exercise; 30 minutes of exercise at 80% of maximum predicted heart rate performed on an indoor stationary bicycle. Exercise was preceded by 10 min of gradually increasing cycling intensity in one of two exercise trials; Other Names: Cardiorespiratory exercise
Experimental: No warm-up, then warm-up; Participants' visit 2 consisted of the 30 minute exercise session without a warm-up. Participants' visit 3 included 10 minutes of gradually increasing intensity prior to the 30 minute exercise session.	Behavioral: Exercise; 30 minutes of exercise at 80% of maximum predicted heart rate performed on an indoor stationary bicycle. Exercise was preceded by 10 min of gradually increasing cycling intensity in one of two exercise trials; Other Names: Cardiorespiratory exercise

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Heart rate during exercise	Heart rate in beats per minute	Minutes 1-30 of exercise, recordings made each minute
Perceived exertion during exercise	Rating of perceived exertion measured using the Borg 6-20 scale	Minutes 1-30 of exercise, recordings made each minute
Power during exercise	Wattage produced on stationary bicycle	Minutes 1-30 of exercise, recordings made each minute
Monocyte mobilization by exercise	Number of peripheral blood monocytes	Change from resting levels of monocytes after exercise
Natural Killer cell mobilization by exercise	Number of peripheral blood natural killer cells	Change from resting levels of natural killer cells after exercise
CD4 T cell mobilization by exercise	Number of peripheral blood CD4 T cells	Change from resting levels of CD4 T cells after exercise
CD8 T cell mobilization by exercise	Number of peripheral blood CD8 T cells	Change from resting levels of CD8 T cells after exercise

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Mood after exercise	Mood dimensions characterized by Profile of Mood Survey	Measured within 10 minute of end of exercise session
Affect after exercise	Affect characterized by Positive and Negative Affect Schedule	Measured within 10 minute of end of exercise session

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Houston
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Emily C LaVoy, PhD, University of Houston

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): July 15, 2018
• Primary Completion (Actual): February 1, 2020
• Study Completion (Actual): September 30, 2021

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 25, 2021
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 27, 2021
• First Posted (Actual): April 30, 2021

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 17, 2022
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 16, 2022
• Last Verified: May 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: STUDY00000990

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: All individual participant data that underlie results in a publication will be made available upon request
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: Will be available upon publication
• IPD Sharing Access Criteria: Requests should be sent to and will be reviewed by the principle investigator
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: STUDY_PROTOCOL; SAP; ICF; CSR

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No