Physiological effects of acute and ordinary bed rest conditions on endurance trained volunteers

The aim of this study was to carry out a comparative study of water balance and water protein composition of the blood during exposure to acute (abrupt restriction of motor activity) and ordinary rigorous bed rest of 7 days. The studies were performed on 30 long distance runners aged 22-25 years old who had a VO2, max of 66 ml kg-1 min-1 on the average. The volunteers were divided into three equal groups: the volunteers in the 1st group were under a normal ambulatory life conditions (control subjects), the volunteers of the 2nd group subjected to an acute bed rest (abrupt restriction of motor activity) regime (acute bed rested subjects) and the volunteers of the 3rd group were submitted to ordinary and rigorous bed rest (rigorous bed rested subjects). All volunteers were on an average of 13.8 km day before taking part in this investigation. The 2nd and 3rd groups of volunteers were kept under a rigorous bed rest regime for 7 days. During the prebed rest period and actual bed rest period plasma volume (PV), total protein and protein fractions (albumins and globulins) and hematocrit were measured. Exposure to acute bed rest conditions induced a significant increase in hematocrit, hemoglobin concentration, protein fractions and marked decrease in (PV) and water balance which were significantly more pronounced than during exposure to ordinary rigorous bed rest. It was concluded that exposure to acute bed rest conditions induces significantly greater changes in water balance and water protein concentration of the blood of endurance trained volunteers than exposure to ordinary rigorous bed rest conditions.