Cardiac adaptation to endurance training in young adult

Context: Regular physical exercise is known to cause improvement of the cardiovascular function. This adaptation is studied here with the help of non-invasive methods. Aims: To evaluate morphological changes in heart by echocardiography, to see the effect of exercise on autonomic function, on aerobic power and to assess the sequence of changes. Settings and Design: Study comprises of 12-week duration and was done on the students of physical education. Materials and Methods: This study was a longitudinal study in which 100 subjects (51 male, 20.18 yrs±1.147, 49 female, 19.91 yrs±1.89) were assessed using electrocardiography, echocardiography and Queen′s College Step test (for VO 2max ) within 7 days of admission to their college and re-examined after 12 weeks. Statistical Analysis: Paired t-test using Graph pad prism5 software. Results: Electrocardiographic evaluation was suggestive of significant decrease in heart rate, significant increase in RR interval and t-wave amplitude in cardiac leads in males and similar but not significant result in females. No significant change was found in left ventricular morphology and ejection fraction after exercise program. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that the exercise training over a period of 3 months does not influence cardiovascular morphology, but causes changes in parasympathetic and sympathetic tone and improves aerobic power