Abstract
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.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 267-273 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Journal of human hypertension |
Volume | 23 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2009 |
Externally published | Yes |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Internal Medicine