[Study of the circadian variation of different circulatory and respiratory functions at submaximal and maximal ergometer work (author's transl)]

The maximal aerobic power of six highly trained young cyclist, mean age 16.3 years and mean VO2max 4.9 l/min, was directly measured at intervals of 4 hrs. A Latin square design was used for the test order. At submaximal work of O2-consumption 2.4 to 4.4 l/min no circadian variation of any single function was found. However, at maximal work load the differences between the maxima and minima values were 12.4% for maximal work output (W max), 7.8% for expiratory minute volume (V Emax), 5.7% for maximal aerobic power (VO2max) and 3.4% for maximal heart rate (H Rmax). All the functions--with the exception of VO2max-had their minima at 0300 hrs; the minima of VO2max was reached already at 2300 hours. The maxima-values of V Emax and VO2max were measured at 1500 hrs, of W max and H Rmax at 0700 and of H Rrest at 1900 hrs correspondingly. A one-tailed test showed significant differences between the maxima and minima values of all variables (P less than 0.05). The results suggest a decreased cardiopulmonary working capacity at night. However, this impairment is only of practical importance if the work will be done near the limit of endurance capacity. Besides it will suggest, that the indirect methods for assessing the cardiopulmonary capacity based on VO2max and W170 are not useful at nighttime, because the presuppositions for these methods are limited of the time of day.