The effects diabetes has on the neurovascular system during exercise

The autonomic nervous system is responsible for the involuntary control of most visceral organs. This system greatly influences the neurovascular and cardiovascular systems while at rest and during exercise. Central command, the baroreflex, and the exercise pressor reflex are the three systems that are responsible for the distribution of blood during exercise. Specifically, the exercise pressor reflex plays a dominant role during exercise because it is influenced by metabolic and mechanical factors that affect the vasculature health. Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disease that can alter the way these systems function within the body. The effects of neural damage and exercise-induced hypoglycemia have been thought to be the sources behind the changes seen in the exercise pressor reflex. Currently, not a lot of research has been done on the exact mechanisms behind the changes of the exercise pressor reflex in diabetes; therefore, the explanations to these alterations are unknown. Thus, the purpose of this report is to develop a hypothesis for the effects of diabetes on the autonomic control of exercise, specifically the exercise pressor reflex.