title: The effects of exercise duration on post-exercise hypotension.
abstract: STUDY 1: Thirteen normotensive participants with average baseline blood pressure of 126/71 mm Hg participated in the study. Participants performed bouts of cycle ergometry for 15, 30 and 45 min at 70% VO2 Peak. Blood pressure was monitored by the Finapres method with 2 min windows recorded at rest, 5, 10, 15, 30, 45 and 60 min post-exercise. Following exercise, systolic blood pressure (SBP) was similar between the three trials and was reduced from pre-exercise values at 5 through 60 min of measurement. Diastolic blood pressure (DBP) was also unaffected by the duration of exercise and was lower than before exercise at 30 through 45 min post-exercise. STUDY 2: Eight borderline hypertensive participants with average baseline blood pressure of 133/79 mm Hg participated in the study. Subjects performed bouts of cycle ergometry for 10 and 30 min at 70% VO2 Peak. Following exercise, blood pressure was monitored as in study 1. SBP was similar between both trials and was reduced from baseline at 5 through 60 min post-exercise. The largest decrement of SBP was 14 mm Hg and occurred 15 min post-exercise. DBP was also unaffected by the duration of exercise and was lower than pre-exercise levels at 5 min and again at 15 through 45 min post-exercise. Mean arterial pressure (MAP) also showed significant decrements throughout the entire 1 h post-exercise period by a maximum of 9 mm Hg at 15 min post-exercise, irrespective of exercise duration. We conclude that moderately intense exercise may be as brief as 10 min in duration in order to elicit a decrease in resting blood pressure and may have potential benefits as a non-pharmacological aid to hypertension.
authors.affiliation: Department of Kinesiology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: MacDonald
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: MacDougall
authors.forename: C D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Hogben
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology*; D005081:Exercise Therapy; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D013997:Time Factors