An athlete's heart is characterized by morphological and functional changes occurring as a consequence of regular physical exercise. We sought to determine if these physiological changes lead to ventricular repolarization abnormalities in trained athletes. Forty-four trained athletes and 35 sex- and age-matched healthy sedentary controls were included in the study. A 12-lead surface electrocardiogram (ECG) was obtained from all participants. Maximum QT (QTmax) and minimum QT (QTmin) interval durations, QT dispersion (QTd) and corrected QT dispersion (QTcd) were calculated for each ECG record. Heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure values were found to be identical in both groups. QTmax and QTmin interval durations were not statistically different between the athletic and control groups. Similarly, QTd and QTcd did not differ significantly between the two groups. No association was observed between an athlete's heart and ventricular heterogeneity compared with healthy sedentary controls, despite physiological and structural changes.

The aim of this study was twofold: it (i) analyzed the weekly variations of sleep quality and training intensity of youth soccer players and (ii) analyzed the relationships between sleep quality and training intensity. This study followed an observational design. Twenty men youth players (age: 18.81 ± 0.41 years) were monitored daily over two weeks for sleep quality and training intensity. Sleep quality was measured daily using the 15-item consensus sleep diary. The training intensity was measured daily using the CR-10 Borg’s scale as a measure of rate of perceived exertion (RPE); a heart rate (HR) sensor was used to measure minimum, average and peak; a global positioning system (GPS) was used for measuring the total distance covered and distances covered at different speed thresholds. Repeated measures ANOVA was used to analyze the weekly variations of sleep quality and training intensity. The Pearson correlation test was executed to analyze the relationships between sleep quality and training intensity. Repeated measures ANOVA revealed significant within-week variations in sleep duration (hours) (p = 0.043), quality of sleep (p = 0.035), RPE (p = 0.007), session-RPE (p = 0.011), HRminimum (p = 0.027), HRpeak (p = 0.005), total distance (p < 0.001), pace (p < 0.002), distance covered at 3.00–6.99 km/h (p < 0.001), distance covered at 7.00–10.99 km/h (p < 0.001), distance covered at 11.00–14.99 km/h (p < 0.001), distance covered at 15.00–18.99 km/h (p < 0.001) and distance covered at >19.00 km/h (p < 0.001). Significant small correlations were found between sleep duration before training and session-RPE (r = 0.252), total distance (r = 0.205), distance covered at 3.00–6.99 km/h (r = 0.209) and distance covered at 7.00–10.99 km/h (r = 0.265). Significant small correlations were found between session-RPE and sleep duration after (r = 0.233), total distance and quality of sleep after (r = 0.198), distance at 3.00–6.99 km/h and quality of sleep after training (r = 0.220), distance covered at >19.00 km/h and quality of sleep after training (r = 0.286), session duration and rested feeling after training (r = 0.227), total distance and rested feeling after training (r = 0.202), distance covered at 11.00–14.99 km/h and rested feeling after training (r = 0.222) and distance covered at >19.00 km/h and rested feeling after training (r = 0.214). In conclusion, sleep duration was longer in the training sessions during the middle of the week; the training intensity was also greater (485.8 ± 56.8 A.U.). Moreover, sleep outcomes after training were slightly correlated with both physiological and locomotor demands.

The aim of this study is to examine the effect of the motivational music on the Wingate Anaerobic Test (WAnT) performance. 16 male students who studied at School of Physical Education and Sports, Kocatepe University participated in the study voluntarily. After demographic characteristics of the voluntaries [age, height, body weight (BW), body mass index (BMI)] were measured without music (pre-test) and with motivational music [>120 bpm (beats per minute)] conditions (post-test). For the analyses of the data; Wilcoxon Rank Test was used in order to detect the difference among the variables. As a result of the measurements taken in with and without music conditions; it was found out that there was a statistically significant difference on behalf of condition with music in terms of maximum anaerobic power (M_axAP), maximum anaerobic capacity (MAC), relative anaerobic power (RAP), relative anaerobic capacity (RAC) and fatigue index (FI) values (p0,05). It was determined that the motivational music has positive effects on the WAnT performance. However; although it was seen that motivational music increased the WAnT performance, we were of the opinion that this effect emerged thanks to the increased psycho-physiological factors caused by music.

Atrial rhythm disturbances, particularly atrial fibrillation (AF), are frequently encountered in trained athletes. P wave dispersion (PWD) is a recent electrocardiographic (ECG) marker that reflects velocity of atrial impulse propagation. However, it remains unknown whether the P wave duration and PWD are different between athletes and sedentary controls. In this study we therefore determined the P wave duration and PWD, markers for conduction abnormalities, in trained athletes and controls. Fifty athletes and sex and age-matched 40 healthy sedentary controls were included in the study. All of the athletes were the members of a local athletic college and they were regularly maintaining their sportive activities; the duration of athletic competition was 7.7 ± 3.3 years and the average athletic time was 10.1 ± 1.6 hours/week. The 12-lead surface ECG was obtained from each subject in the supine position. The P wave duration was measured, and the difference between the maximum and minimum P wave duration was defined as the PWD. Distribution of sex, age, body mass index, blood pressure was similar in athletic groups and controls. Heart rate was significantly lower in the athletes than in the controls (66 ± 7 vs 73 ± 9 beats/min, p < 0.05). Maximum and minimum P wave durations were not statistically different in athletic group and controls (115 ± 6 vs 114 ± 4 ms and 74 ± 8 vs 74 ± 7 ms, respectively). In addition, PWD did not differ significantly in both groups (41 ± 6 vs 40 ± 7 ms, respectively). Thus, athlete's heart is not associated with prolonged P wave duration and increased PWD, indicating that P wave duration or PWD could not be used as a predictor for AF developed in trained athletes.

Bu araştırmada, Afyonkarahisar ilinde bir spor kulübünde futbol oynayan amatör futbolcuların sporda ahlaktan uzaklaşma davranışlarının ve duygu durumlarının belirlenerek bu iki değişken arasındaki ilişkinin incelenmesi amaçlanmıştır. Araştırmada, genel tarama ve ilişkisel tarama modelinden faydalanılmıştır. Araştırma grubunu, amatör spor kulüplerinde aktif futbol oynayan 18-30 yaş aralığındaki toplam 102 sporcu oluşturmuştur. Veri toplama aracı olarak “Sporda Ahlaktan Uzaklaşma Ölçeği Kısa Formu” ve “Spor Duygu Ölçeği” kullanılmıştır. Verilerin analizinde, futbolcuların demografik özelliklerini belirlemede tanımlayıcı istatistiklerden frekans ve yüzde; ilişkisiz ölçümlerde ortalama puanların karşılaştırılması için Varyans analizi (tek yönlü ANOVA, bağımsız örneklem t-testi), anlamlı farklılığın hangi gruplar arasında olduğunu belirlemek için ise Tukey testinden yararlanılmıştır. İki değişken arasındaki ilişkiyi belirlemek amacıyla ise Pearson Korelasyon Çarpımı testinden faydalanılmıştır. Araştırma sonucunda, bekar futbolcuların evlilere, 21-23 yaşındaki katılımcıların da 18-20 ve 24-26 yaş grubundakilere göre daha kaygılı ve öfkeli oldukları tespit edilmiştir. Ayrıca bekar futbolcuların evlilere göre daha fazla sporda ahlaktan uzaklaştığı belirlenmiştir. Spor özgeçmişine göre ise deneyim arttıkça öfke duygusunun da aşamalı olarak azaldığı dikkat çekmiştir. Nitekim spor duygu durumlarının ahlaktan uzaklaşma ile arasında bir ilişki olduğu kaydedilmiştir.