Effect of physical fitness and training on physiological responses to hypogravity.

The studies on the orthostatic tolerance during the hypodynamics exposure seem to be significant in connection with the selection, training and health maintenance of astronauts. Using male human subjects of various physical fitness levels, fluctuations of their physical fitness through 2 weeks of vigorous athletic training were measured in many parameters. For some of the subjects, the effects of 6 hr thermal neutral water immersion exposure in head out supine position on the physical fitness parameters and orthostatic tolerability were compared before training with after training. The results obtained were as follows: (1) Before training, orthostatic tolerability before hypodynamics exposure increased, following the physical fitness levels; the value after the hypodynamics exposure decreased in all the cases, but no differences were observed between the physical fitness levels. (2) As a result of training an increase of the physical fitness capacity was observed. The increase of orthostatic tolerability before hypodynamics exposure was noticed except for athletes. (3) Before hypodynamics exposure the urinary excretion of noradrenaline on non-athlete subjects increased as the physicsl fitness level increased. The values were decreased by physical training, the more so the better the physical fitness. After hypodynamics exposure the same relation was observed. But for athletes the values remain more stable and the decrease by hypodynamics exposure was not so distinctive. Such decreased reaction to hypodynamic conditions seems to reveal the neuro hormonal mechanism for the detrimental adaptation of athletes to hypodynamics. These results suggest that stable athletes do not always have low orthostatic tolerability, but do not respond well to hypodynamic conditions, at least from the orthostatic point of view. The mechanism seems related to sympathetic nerve activity.