Exercise training favourably affects autonomic and blood pressure responses during mental and physical stressors in African-American men.
Aerobic exercise is a powerful mechanism by which cardiovascular and autonomic parameters may be improved. We sought to quantify the extent of benefit that could be achieved by a short-term monitored exercise regimen on several autonomic parameters during recognized mental and physical stressors in young normotensive African-American men matched for a family history of hypertension, a group at high risk for the development of hypertension. Autonomic modulations were derived using spectral decomposition of the electrocardiogram and beat-to-beat blood pressures (BPs). Arterial compliance was obtained using contour analysis of the radial artery pulse wave. The analysis of variance revealed that compared with a matched sedentary control group, aerobic capacity of the trained group significantly increased by 16%. Autonomic modulations, arterial compliance and BP responses significantly improved during some of the stressors, whereas no such improvements were seen in the control group. Attenuated responses, mediated through a favourable shift in sympathovagal balance and enhanced arterial compliance, provide mechanistic evidence of how certain variables may be improved due to aerobic conditioning in a population at high risk for the development of hypertension.
Bond
V
V
Department of HHPLS, Howard University, Washington, DC, USA.
Bartels
M N
MN
Sloan
R P
RP
Millis
R M
RM
Zion
A S
AS
Andrews
N
N
De Meersman
R E
RE
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American; D001341:Autonomic Nervous System / Q000502:physiology*; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000502:physiology*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000503:physiopathology*; D055815:Young Adult