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High-intensity interval exercise promotes post-exercise hypotension of greater magnitude compared to moderate-intensity continuous exercise

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European Journal of Applied Physiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Physical exercise is associated with reduced blood pressure (BP). Moderate-intensity continuous exercise (MCE) promotes post-exercise hypotension (PEH), which is highly recommended to hypertensive patients. However, recent studies with high-intensity interval exercise (HIIE) have shown significant results in cardiovascular disease. Thus, this study aimed to analyze PEH in hypertensive subjects submitted to HIIE and compare it to post MCE hypotension.

Methods

20 hypertensive adults (51 ± 8 years), treated with antihypertensive medications, were submitted to two different exercise protocols and a control session. The MCE was performed at 60–70% of VO2 reserve, while HIIE was composed of five bouts of 3 min at 85–95% VO2 reserve with 2 min at 50% of VO2 reserve. The following variables were evaluated during exercise, pre- and post-session: clinical BP, heart rate (HR), double product, perception of effort, body mass, height and body mass index.

Results

Systolic BP decreased after exercise in both sessions, showing greater decrease after HIIE (− 7 ± 10 and − 11 ± 12 mmHg, after MCE and HIIE, respectively, p ≤ 0.01). Diastolic BP also decreased after both sessions, but there were no significant differences between the two sessions (− 4 ± 8 and − 7 ± 8 mmHg, after MCE and HIIE, respectively).

Conclusion

Both exercise sessions produced PEH, but HIIE generated a greater magnitude of hypotension. The HIIE protocol performed in this study caused a greater cardiovascular stress during exercise; however, it was safe for the studied population and efficient for reducing BP after exercise.

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Abbreviations

ANOVA:

Analysis of variance

BMI:

Body mass index

BP:

Blood pressure

CVD:

Cardiovascular disease

DBP:

Diastolic blood pressure

DP:

Double product

EPIMOV:

Epidemiology and human movement

HIIE:

High-intensity interval exercise

HR:

Heart rate

MAP:

Mean arterial pressure

MCE:

Moderated-intensity continuous exercise

PHE:

Post-exercise hypotension

PSE:

Perception-subjective effort

SBP:

Systolic blood pressure

SD:

Standard deviation

SEM:

Standard error of the mean

VO2peak :

Maximal oxygen uptake

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Acknowledgements

This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior—Brasil (CAPES)—Finance Code 001.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biosciences, Federal University of São Paulo, Rua Silva Jardim, 136, Santos, SP, 11015-020, Brazil

    Flávia C. Pimenta, Fábio Tanil Montrezol, Luís Fernando Marcelino da Silva, Gabriela Alves Borba & Alessandra Medeiros

  2. Department of Human Movement Sciences, Federal University of São Paulo, Rua Silva Jardim, 136, Santos, 11015-020, Brazil

    Victor Zuniga Dourado & Wesley de Oliveira Vieira

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  1. Flávia C. Pimenta
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  2. Fábio Tanil Montrezol
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Contributions

AM, FCP and VZD conceived and designed research. FCP, LFMS, GAB and WOV conducted experiments. AM, FCP and FTM analyzed data. AM, FCP, FTM and VZD wrote the manuscript. All authors read and approved the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Alessandra Medeiros.

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Communicated by Massimo Pagani.

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Pimenta, F.C., Montrezol, F.T., Dourado, V.Z. et al. High-intensity interval exercise promotes post-exercise hypotension of greater magnitude compared to moderate-intensity continuous exercise. Eur J Appl Physiol 119, 1235–1243 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-019-04114-9

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