Mat Pilates training reduces blood pressure in both well-controlled hypertensive and normotensive postmenopausal women: a controlled clinical trial study.

AIM: The aim of this study was to compare the Mat Pilates training-induced responses in resting and ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM), blood pressure variability (BPV), and heart rate variability (HRV) in well-controlled hypertensive and normotensive postmenopausal women. METHODS: Forty-seven postmenopausal women were allocated in well-controlled hypertensive (HT) and normotensive (NT) groups. The exercise program was performed three times a week for 12 weeks. Before and after the intervention resting, blood pressure (BP), ABPM, HRV, and BPV were analyzed. RESULTS: Student's t-test showed no difference in baseline anthropometric and resting BP values between groups. The generalized estimation equation (GEE) showed no interactions (group*time), but time (p < .05) reductions in resting systolic, diastolic and mean BP after training in both groups. Sleep ambulatory systolic, diastolic and mean BP were higher overall in the HT group (p < .05 in group effect). We also found a time effect (p < .05) with significant increases in BPV in the mean diurnal and nocturnal deviations weighted for the duration of the daytime and nighttime interval (SDdn) in systolic, diastolic and mean BP, and in the average real variability (ARV) in diastolic and mean in both groups. In addition, HRV increases (p < .05 in time effect) through the percentage of pairs of adjacent RR intervals with a difference of at least 50 ms (pNN50) after training in both groups. CONCLUSION: Both normotensive and well-controlled hypertensive postmenopausal women may have similar Mat Pilates exercise training-induced responses in ambulatory BP, BPV and HRV.

Acute and chronic effects of combined exercise on ambulatory blood pressure and its variability in hypertensive postmenopausal women.

The aim of this study was to investigate the acute and chronic effects, and their correlation, after combined aerobic and resistance exercises in blood pressure (BP) and its variability (BPV) in hypertensive postmenopausal women. Fourteen hypertensive postmenopausal women monitored BP at rest and during 24 h by ambulatory BP monitoring in a control day without exercise performance a pretraining (baseline), after an acute exercise session (acute), and after a chronic exercise training for 10 weeks (chronic). After exercise training, systolic BP (SBP, Δ = -150 mmHg.24 h), diastolic BP (DBP, Δ = -96 mmHg.24 h), and mean BP (MBP, Δ = -95 mmHg.24 h) area under the curve were smaller than baseline measurements (P < 0.05) with no difference between acute and baseline measurements. The SBP (ΔSD24 = -2, ΔSDdn = -1.7, and ΔARV24 = -1.9 mmHg), DBP (ΔSD24 = -0.9, ΔSDdn = -0.8, and ΔARV24 = -0.9 mmHg), and MBP (ΔSD24 = -1.5, ΔSDdn = -1.3, and ΔARV24 = -1.2 mmHg) variability reduced in acute session in relation to baseline, with no chronic effects. There are moderate correlations between acute and chronic responses in wake SBP, sleep DBP, and SD24. In conclusion, combined exercise reduces ambulatory BP chronically but not acutely. In contrast, BPV decreases after an acute session but not chronically. Awake SBP, sleep DBP, and SD24indices are promising candidates to predict individual cardiovascular responses to exercise.

Ambulatory blood pressure variability and combined exercise training: comparison between hypertensive and normotensive postmenopausal women.

AIM: The aim of the study was to verify the effects of moderate combined aerobic and resistance exercises training in ambulatory blood pressure (ABPM) and its variability in hypertensive and normotensive postmenopausal women. METHODS: Twenty-six participants were divided into two groups: hypertensive (HT = 13) and normotensive (NT = 13). They performed 30 sessions of combined exercises (aerobic and resistance exercises at same session) over 10 weeks. We evaluated: resting BP and 24-h ABPM with systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), mean blood pressure (MBP), and heart rate (HR). To evaluate blood pressure variability (BPV), the following were considered: 24-h SD (SD24), the mean diurnal and nocturnal deviations (SDdn), average real variability (ARV24). RESULTS: The two-way analysis of variance showed no difference in ABPM nor BPV responses after training between groups. Both HT and NT groups had similar BP reductions in 24-h DBP (P < 0.01; ΔNT = -3.1 ± 1.1, ΔHT = -1.8 ± 1.2 mmHg), 24-h area under the curve of DBP (P = 0.01; ΔNT = -73±105, ΔHT = -44 ± 115 mmHg), and wake DBP (P < 0.01; ΔNT = -3.4 ± 1.2, ΔHT = -1.8 ± 1.3 mmHg), without differences in BPV responses. Moreover, HT women had higher overall SBP SDdn (P = 0.01), SBP ARV (P = 0.02), and MBP ARV (P < 0.01) than NT women. CONCLUSION: Ten-week combined exercise training resulted in similar BP reductions in hypertensive and normotensive postmenopausal women, but not in BPV responses.