title: Moderate- and high-intensity exercise lowers blood pressure in normotensive subjects 60 to 79 years of age.
abstract: To investigate the effects of exercise intensity on resting blood pressure (BP) in normotensive elderly subjects, 44 sedentary healthy subjects aged 60 to 79 years of age were studied during 6 months of walking exercise. Subjects were ranked according to maximal oxygen consumption and randomly stratified to groups that trained at 70% (n = 19) or 80% to 85% (n = 14) of maximal heart rate reserve, or to a control group (n = 11) that did not train. Initial BP was established during a 2- to 3-week control period. During the first 3 months, both exercise groups progressed to 70% of heart rate reserve for 40 minutes 3 times each week. The moderate-intensity group continued to train at 70% (45-minute duration) for an additional 3 months, whereas the high-intensity group progressed to training at 85% of heart rate reserve (35-minute duration). Maximal oxygen consumption increased (p < or = 0.05) during the initial 3 months in both exercise groups (25.2 to 28.1 ml.kg-1.min-1 and 26.3 to 29.3 ml.kg-1.min-1) and continued to increase (p < or = 0.05) after 3 additional months of training, but the increase was greater (p < or = 0.05) in the high-intensity group (28.1 to 29.4 ml.kg-1.min-1 and 29.3 to 32.8 ml.kg-1.min-1). Systolic BP decreased (p < or = 0.05) similarly at 6 months in both training groups (120 to 111 mm Hg and 120 to 112 mm Hg).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville 32610.
authors.forename: R W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Braith
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Pollock
authors.forename: D T
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: Lowenthal
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Graves
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Limacher
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010101:Oxygen Consumption / Q000502:physiology; D010806:Physical Education and Training; D012016:Reference Values; D012885:Skinfold Thickness; D016138:Walking / Q000502:physiology