Beyond muscle protein synthesis and glycogen resynthesis, what critical nervous system process is primarily facilitated during post-exercise recovery to ensure sustained training performance?

The critical nervous system process primarily facilitated during post-exercise recovery to ensure sustained training performance is the restoration of central nervous system (CNS) excitability and neuromuscular control. During intense or prolonged exercise, the CNS experiences fatigue, which is a temporary reduction in its ability to effectively send signals to muscles, independent of fatigue in the muscles themselves. This central fatigue involves several mechanisms, including alterations in the balance and availability of specific neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine, which can affect motor drive, motivation, and the perception of effort. It also involves changes in the excitability of motor neurons within the spinal cord and a reduction in the descending neural drive from the brain to these motor neurons.