HEART RATE AND OVERTRAINING

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HEART RATE AND OVERTRAINING





Overtraining in endurance athletes tends to affect both heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV), two physiological markers widely used to track training stress and recovery.

HRV Tends to Drop: Research consistently shows that HRV decreases with overtraining, signaling a shift toward more sympathetic (stress-related) activity and less parasympathetic (rest-and-digest) activity. This altered autonomic balance is a well-recognized sign of overtraining syndrome. Studies that used Poincaré plot analysis found that athletes suffering from overtraining displayed significantly lower HRV than control subjects, suggesting reduced vagal (parasympathetic) tone and a limited ability to recover from intense training (Wiley Online Library).

Resting Heart Rate Increases: Overtrained athletes sometimes show an elevated resting heart rate, particularly in the morning. This uptick reflects higher sympathetic drive or insufficient recovery from prior training. Monitoring morning heart rate is often recommended as a simple yet early warning sign of overtraining (Taylor & Francis).

Blunted Exercise Heart Rate Response: When performing submaximal exercise, overtrained athletes may notice that their heart rate doesn’t rise as much as expected for a given workload. This blunted response could be due to an ongoing autonomic imbalance or a cardiovascular system under excessive stress (Serbian Journal of Experimental and Clinical Research).

Effects in Female Athletes: In female endurance athletes, overtraining is associated with alterations in both heart rate and blood pressure variability. The exact nature of these changes can vary, but both are considered signs of altered cardiac and vascular autonomic regulation under heavy training loads (International Journal of Sports Medicine).

Nighttime HRV as a Sensitive Marker: Measuring HRV during sleep or right after waking up can provide especially sensitive indicators of overtraining, since these time windows are less affected by daily stress and better reflect the athlete’s recovery status (ResearchGate PDF).

Summary:
Overtraining generally leads to lower HRV and, in some cases, higher resting heart rate—both signs of a nervous system dominated by stress rather than recovery. Monitoring morning HR and sleep HRV can help catch overtraining early and prevent it from worsening. These physiological signals should be observed in conjunction with subjective symptoms, such as fatigue or mood changes, for optimal results.

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