The relationship between HEART rate variability and sports performance in basketball players

Basketball is an aerobic-based anaerobic sport. Increasing sportive performance is one of the main keys to success for basketball players. The proper functioning of the autonomic nervous system is very important for sportive performance. Heart rate variability, which is a marker of the autonomic nervous system, can be applied in a short time practically because it is a non-invasive method and its cost is low. Our study was planned to examine the relationship between heart rate variability method and basketball-specific sportive performance. The study was conducted with 20 male basketball players. Vertical jump and sitting chest pass test were used to evaluate power, T agility test to evaluate agility, upper and lower extremity Y balance tests to evaluate balance, and Johnson Basketball Test Battery to evaluate basketball-specific performances. Autonomic nervous system was assessed by heart rate variability. The relationships between the obtained heart rate variability results and the performance results were analyzed. Various levels of correlations were found between the vertical jump and seated chest pass tests and some parameters of HRV, between the T agility test and some parameters of HRV, between the Johnson Basketball Test Battery and some parameters of HRV (p<0.05). No statistically significant correlation was found between the lower and upper extremity Y balance tests and HRV parameters (p>0.05). As the results of our study show that HRV may be related to performance, it may be beneficial for athlete evaluations to measure HRV evaluations at different periods throughout the season. However, it is thought that more detailed studies are needed in this area for clear information.