Blood pressure and sympathetic activity following responses to aerobic exercise in patients with essential hypertension

Abstract

Fourteen untreated patients with essential hypertension (EH) were subjected to mild aerobic exercise with the intensity at 50% of the maximum oxygen uptake (VO2max) twice a week for 12 weeks, as compared with 14 normotensive subjects (NT). Blood pressure and norepinephrine (NE) in plasma, platelet and urine were measured as the indices of sympathetic activity. In EH, a significant fall in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure was observed. In addition, exercise training produced a significant decrease both urinary and platelet NE, but not in plasma NE. Neither significant changes in blood pressure nor NE in plasma, platelet and urine were observed in NT. These results suggest that an inhibition of the sympathetic nervous system might be related to the blood pressure fall in physical exercise training.