Journal of psychosomatic research
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Clinical Trial Controlled Clinical Trial
The effect of brief exercise cessation on pain, fatigue, and mood symptom development in healthy, fit individuals.
Abnormalities of the biological stress response (hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and the autonomic nervous system) have been identified in both fibromyalgia (FM) and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Although these changes have been considered to be partly responsible for symptom expression, we examine an alternative hypothesis that these HPA and autonomic changes can be found in subsets of healthy individuals in the general population who may be at risk of developing these conditions. Exposure to "stressors" (e.g., infections, trauma, etc.) may lead to symptom expression (pain, fatigue, and other somatic symptoms) in part by precipitating lifestyle changes. In particular, we focus on the effect of deprivation of routine aerobic exercise on the development of somatic symptoms. ⋯ A subset of subjects developed symptoms of pain, fatigue, or mood changes after exercise deprivation. This cohort was different from the individuals who did not develop symptoms in baseline measures of HPA axis, immune, and autonomic function. We speculate that a subset of healthy individuals who have hypoactive function of the biological stress response systems unknowingly exercise regularly to augment the function of these systems and thus suppress symptoms. These individuals may be at risk for developing chronic multisymptom illnesses (CMIs) (e.g., FM or CFS among others) when a "stressor" leads to lifestyle changes that disrupt regular exercise.