自律神經對運動中心血管之調控是重要的，性別對運動誘發之血管調節是否有影響並不清楚。本研究之目的：探討性別對運動中自律神經及血管調控的影響。方法：40位坐式生活之健康受試者，以年齡相符之男性及女性各20位。每位受試者接受一回漸增負荷的腳踏車運動，最大運動強度為心跳達到90%年齡預定的心跳值±5次／分。運動過程收集心電圖及血壓；並於運動前、後以脈搏描記圖測量小腿血管之傳導性。心臟自律神經的張力則以心跳變異分析法檢測。結果：男性最大運動負荷較高；但在相同負荷下女性之心跳高於男性。女性在運動早期即快速增加心跳，血壓則無顯著性別差異。女性動、靜脈血流、運動誘發之充血性反應及靜脈容量皆大於男性；靜脈張力及血管阻力則無顯著之性別差異。以運動暖身期至冷卻期1分鐘的連續運動心電圖做心跳變異分析，結果顯示：男性之低頻功率強度高於女性。結論：運動時為維持足夠的組織灌流量，女性有較高的血管傳導及順應性，且較早即應用減弱迷走神經張力以增加心跳次數。男性心臟交感神經興奮性較高，可能產生較大的心搏量，所以其心跳數增加不如女性。臨床上做運動測試與訓練時需考慮心、血管反應有性別差異存在。

Background and Purpose: Studies of gender differences in autonomic regulation indicate that women had greater relative parasympathetic input to the heart than age-control men in resting condition. Because the autonomic balance of vascular regulation to exercise in men and women is basically undetermined, we monitored leg vascular reactivity (LVR) and variability of heart rate (HRV) responses to exercise in normal young men and women to investigate the gender-related differences in exercise hemodynamics and cardio autonomic activity. Methods: Fourty normal subjects (20 men and 20 women) underwent an incremental exercise test until they exceeded their age-predicated maximal heart rate. Electrocardiogram (ECG) and blood pressure were measured during exercise. LVR and HRV were analyzed as autonomic nerve on cardiovascular regulation indexes. Group demographics, heart rate, blood pressure and HRV comparisons were made by independent-t test identified the differences between men and women. Generalized linear models (GLM) were fitted to estimate the effects of exercise and gender on the outcomes of all variables across the 2 groups. Differences were considered statistically significant at a level of p<.05. Results: There are significant differences of exercise capacity between man and women, but both gender had similar Brog's perceptual scale. The maximal mean workload was 189.16±38.47 Watts (W) in the man group, 115.23±18.74W in the women group. The women group had higher HR responses to exercise than man at the same workload from 45W to 120W stage. Furthermore, the women subjects had the greater hyperemic reaction, blood flow and venous capacity than men. On the other hand, man had low frequency power of HRV than women. Conclusion: These observations seem to indicate that women have different responsive cardiovascular functions compared with those of men and have led to the hypothesis that women may respond to exercise stress with vagal withdrawal and increase vascular conductivity.