Compare the effects of the low and high intensity aerobic exercise program in obese individuals

The basic treatment of obesity, one of the important disease in our era, the basic treatment is exercise and diet. Our purpose in this study was to compare effects of high and low intensity aerobic exercise programme on body composition, metabolic and cardiovascular risk factors, quality of life, depression and autonomic nervous system function in obese individuals. 110 obese patients between the ages of 18 to 65 were included in the study and they were separated groups randomly. 65 patients completed the study. Cycle ergometer test with Opticare software was performed to patients. High intensity exercise programme with constant heart rate at nearly upper limit of aerobic exercise zone+ diyet was performed to group 1 (23 persons), low intensity exercise programme at nearly lower limit of heart rate + diet programme was performed to group 2 (22 persons) and only diet programme was performed to control group (grup 3- 20 persons) for twelve weeks. Body compositions and weights, functional capacity of cardiovascular system (with VO2max, MET), functional exercise capacity (with 6 WDT), autonomic nervous system function (with HRV and SSR), quality of life (with SF-36), depression level (with beck depression scale) and metabolic risk factors (with biochemical analyses) of patients were evaluated before and after the treatment programme. BMI, waist circumference, hip circumference, fat mass, muscle mass, TC and CRP levels, the score of beck depression scale were significantly decreased in both exercise groups. And, VO2max, MET, 6 WDT, phsycal componet score of SF36 were significantly increased in both exercise groups. There was no significant changes in these parameters in the control group. SDNN, RMSSD and trianguler index which were the parameters of HRV significicantly increased in high intensity exercise group. No significant changes determined in SSR findings in all 3 groups In conclusion, we found that both intensity of aerobic exercise programme, which was advised for obesity treatment, improved the body composition, quality of life, functional capasity, metabolic risk factors and autonomic nervous system dysfunction. Our study showed that HRV was more sensitive than SSR to evaluate autonomic nervous system function. In our study, it was observed that high intensity exercise had more effect on HRV and low intensity exercise had more effect to decrease waist circumference. Long-term studies that evaluate the effect of the low intensity aerobic exercise on disases such as diabet and metabolic syndrome that were known to be important risk factors should be carried out to prove on the abatement of waist circumference. However, studies that include other methods which evaluate autonomic nervous system other than HRV and SSR are required to determine the effects of high intensity aerobic programme on autonomic nervous system.