Assessment of the Adequacy of Amateur Sports by the Functional Status of Students

Abstract

Background: In the right dose, physical activity can bring health benefits. Objectives: To assess indicators of health and physical development of students engaged in amateur sports. Materials and methods: The study involved 30 male students aged 23.8 ± 0.3 years. We established their daily energy expenditures, integral indices characterizing their physical development, such as body weight, Pignet, strength, vitality, and Kerdo vegetative indices, endurance rate, circulatory efficiency, and the index of functional changes. We also analyzed cardiovascular system parameters including heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure at rest, after exercise and after exercise recovery. Results of the biochemical blood test taken the next morning after workout were used to evaluate the status of functions and systems of the body. Results: Energy expenditures amounted to 3,665.5 ± 37.3 kcal. Students were physically strong, their functional capabilities of the respiratory system and adaptation to sports (according to the activity of the parasympathetic autonomic nervous system) were found satisfactory while their physical activity was assessed as high (hard work). In the body, catabolic processes prevailed, and the level of cortisol exceeding the norm in 50.0 % of the subjects indicated stress. Inadequacy of physical exercises was evidenced by the index of functional changes (in 57.7 % of the students adaptation was in the state of functional stress); reaction of the cardiovascular system (endurance and heart rates, circulatory efficiency, creatine kinase MB, troponin-1, ALT, and LDH); increased erythropoiesis; hormonal changes (cortisol, testosterone); changes in the metabolism of proteins (total protein, urea, uric acid), fats (total cholesterol, high- and low-density lipoproteins), and hormones (cortisol, testosterone); signs of an early stage of anemia (erythrocytes, total protein, ferritin). Conclusion: The use of the methodology for assessing the functional status of the human body by integral and biochemical criteria during recovery period after exercise enables pre-nosology diagnostics and prevention of health disorders during active sports.