ABSTRACT
Introduction:
Duration and intensity of exercises cause different alterations in the immunity system, among them, reduction of immunity responses, causing decrease in physical performance. It is also known that dermal pigmentation can influence such alterations in the system's behavior.
Objective:
To evaluate the effects of dermal pigmentation on performance of physical exercise.
Method:
In this clinical essay, 12 subjects participated, among them, 6 with dermal pigmentation, being age (years), weight (kg), height (cm) and body fat (%) measured as 16.5 ± 1.16; 68.10 ± 6.83; 176.29 ± 7.71; 11.49 ± 0.58, respectively, divided in two groups. They were submitted to a maximum effort test with gradual intensity in treadmill to determine maximum oxygen consumption (VO2max), anaerobic thresholds (AnT) and running economy (RE 14km/h %), lactate being collected before and 5 minutes after test. Data has been analyzed by "t test" for independent variables, having a level of significance of α < 0.05.
Results:
Significant differences were observed between groups in relation to pre-test blood lactate concentration (BLC) (4.6 ± 0.11 and 3.23 ± 0.88 for the dermal pigmented and non-dermal pigmented groups, respectively; p <0.05) and 5 minutes post-test (5.65 ± 0.49 and 13.13 ± 2.20 for the dermal pigmented and non-dermal pigmented groups, respectively; p <0.05). The testing time was also significantly higher for the non-dermal pigmented group, compared to the dermal pigmented group (8 min 47 sec ± 0.08 and 7 min 39 sec ± 0.03 respectively; p < 0.05) and also analysis of WURSS-21 (3.33 ± 3.14 and 2.00 ± 1.09, respectively; p> 0.05). In relation to the other dependent variables (VO2max, second anaerobic threshold and running economy) no statistically significant differences were found.
Conclusion:
Dermal pigmentation produced lower performance in the maximum effort test, with an influence on performance of physical exercise.
Keywords:
physical exertion; tattooing; immunity
