Presenters: David Aguilar-Alvarez ; Margarita López
Authors: Margarita López, Erica McBride, David Aguilar-Alvarez
Faculty Advisor: David Aguilar-Alvarez
Institution: Weber State University
Research outcome Study objective was to evaluate the effect of aerobic exercise and exposure to heat through infrared sauna-induced therapy on fasting plasma glucose levels. Methods During the randomized crossover, counterbalanced control study, plasma from ten participants (age 23 ± 2 y, height 1.74 ± 0.08 m, weight 80.9 ± 19.7, BMI 26.5 ± 5.5 kg/m2) was collected and analyzed prior and after each of the treatments (control, exercise, and heat). Trials consisted of 20-minute supine baseline, 30-minute either infrared sauna heat exposure (HEAT; ~56°C), cycling exercise (EXE; 40-50% heart rate reserve), or upright sitting (control; CON). 60-minute supine recovery followed intervention. All participants completed the three treatments in a randomized order. Blood samples were collected at baseline, 30 minutes, and 60 minutes post-intervention. Piccolo Xpress chemical analyzer was used for measuring plasma glucose levels. Mean differences between pre-and post-treatment were evaluated using the Paired Samples t-test. Mean change of temperature differences between groups were compared using repeated-measures ANOVA test. Analysis/Results Only exercise showed to have an effect on mean glucose levels 99.7 ± 2.8 pre vs97.1± 3.7 post, p=0.008. When comparing the three treatments we observed a trend in the mean change of temperature differences between CON -0.3 ± 1.2 vs EXE -2.6 ± 0.7, p= 0.6 and EXE -2.6 ± 0.7 vs HEAT 1.2 ± 1.8, p= 0.7. There were no significant differences between HEAT vs CON. Conclusions Acute aerobic exercising seems to decrease circulating plasma glucose levels, this was expected as the working muscle utilizes glucose aerobic and anaerobic pathways to produce ATP. We did not observe any influence of heat therapy on fasting plasma glucose levels. It is possible that higher temperatures are required to observe a significant change.