The published studies concentrate on physiological, biochemical and haematological parameters affected by WBC. It reduces proinflammatory responses, decreases pro-oxidant molecular species and stabilises membranes, resulting in high potential beneficial effects on sports-induced haemolysis, and cell tissue damage, which is characteristic of heavy physical exercise. Conversely, it does not influence immulogical or hormonal responses, with the exception of testosterone, estradiol, noradrenaline and myocardial cell metabolism. Interleukin concentrations are modified by WBC, which induces anti-inflammatory responses. In the context of recovery between two training sessions, it has showed that a single session of WBC performed shortly after a maximal exercise exerted a strong influence on parasympathetic reactivation, yielding a two- to four-fold augmentation of in pre-exercise vagal-related HRV indices, only 1 hour post-exercise. In addition to the desirable effects of WBC identified in sport, future research should aim to determine whether the strong influence of WBC on parasympathetic reactivation at the cardiac level could present additional benefits over longer periods, as fatigue accumulation during periods of intensified training has been associated with changes in the autonomic modulation of heart rate in athletes. The published data are generally not controversial, but further studies are necessary to confirm the present observations. Standardisation of exposures times and the number of treatments during each cycle could improve data comparison. Due to the impact on the parasympathetic reactivation, we hypothesised that further studies conducted on sleep efficacy are needed in order to speed-up the recovery of elite athletes.
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