Lynette Hodges

Dr Lynette Hodges is a cardiovascular exercise and health researcher and Senior Lecturer at the School of Sport, Exercise and Nutrition, at Massey University, New Zealand.

Notable studies

• 2021, Effects of Post-Exertional Malaise on Markers of Arterial Stiffness in Individuals with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome - (Full text)
• 2021, Relationship between cardiopulmonary, mitochondrial and autonomic nervous system function improvement after an individualised activity programme upon Chronic Fatigue Syndrome patients - (Full text)
• 2020, Prediction of Discontinuation of Structured Exercise Programme in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Patient - (Full text)
• 2020, The physiological time line of post-exertional malaise in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) - (Full text)

Talks and interviews

• 2020, Conference Oral Presentation: The effects of post exertional malaise on markers of arterial stiffness|location=Presented at Clinical Exercise Physiology New Zealand. Authored by: Hodges, L.

Background and objective: Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) is characterised by post-exertional malaise (PEM) following exercise. Evidence is emerging that ME/CFS patients suffer from chronic vascular dysfunction as a result of illness-related oxidative stress and vascular inflammation. The study aimed to determine whether a single bout of maximal-intensity aerobic exercise would have a negative impact on vascular function 48 and 72 hours into recovery, to investigate whether PEM impacted these measures.

Materials and Methods: ME/CFS (n=11) with gender and age-matched controls (n=11) were randomly assigned to either a 48-hour or 72-hour protocol. After 10 minutes of supine rest, each participant had measures of brachial blood pressure, augmentation index (AIx, standardized to 75bpm) and carotid-radial pulse wave velocity (crPWV) taken. This was followed by completing a maximal incremental cycle exercise test. Resting measures were repeated 48 or 72 hours later (depending on group allocation), to determine the effects of the exercise undertaken.

Results: No significant differences were found when ME/CFS were directly compared to controls at baseline. During recovery, the 48-hour control group experienced a significant 7.2% reduction in AIx from baseline measures (p<0.05), while the matched ME/CFS experienced no change in AIx. The 72-hour ME/CFS group experienced a non-significant increase of 1.4% from baseline measures. The 48 hour and 72-hour ME/CFS groups both experienced non-significant improvements in crPWV (0.56ms-1 and 1.55ms-1, respectively).

Conclusions: Our findings suggest that those with ME/CFS may not experience exercise-induced vasodilation due to chronic vascular damage, and may be a contributor to the onset of PEM. This may help determine cardiovascular risk for this illness, as well as validating our measuring methods as potential diagnostic tools for ME/CFS. Further research on a greater scale is required to validate these claims.

Online presence

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• Address:

School of Sport, Exercise and Nutrition, at

Massey University

Palmerston North 4442

New Zealand

See also

• Post-exertional malaise

Learn more

• Institution