Endurance exercise training reduces systolic and diastolic blood pressures in approximately 75% of people who have essential hypertension; these reductions are approximately 10 mmHg for both systolic and diastolic blood pressures. Exercise training at intensities of 40–70% VO2max appears to lower systolic blood pressure somewhat more and diastolic blood pressure to the same degree as higher-intensity training. Additional benefits of endurance exercise training on other risk factors for coronary heart disease make such training an efficacious intervention for people who have mild-to-moderate elevations in blood pressure.
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American College of Sports Medicine: Physical activity, physical fitness, and hypertensionMed Sci Sports Exerc1993, 25:i–x. Themost recent review of the effects of exercise training on the blood pressure of hypertensive individuals; the official stand of the American College of Sports Medicine.
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AkinpeluA: Responses of the African hypertensive to exercise training: Preliminary observationsJ Hum Hypertens1990, 4:74–76. Theonly study of the effects of exercise training on African hypertensives, which reported significant reductions in systolic blood pressure but not in diastolic blood pressure.
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AttinaDAGiulianoGArcangeliGMusanteRCupelliV: Effects of 1 year of physical training on borderline hypertension: An evaluation by bicycle ergometer exercise testingJ Cardiovasc Pharmacol1986, 8 (suppl 5):S145–S147. Theonly study to show a significant worsening of blood pressure with endurance exercise training. The authors reported no change in systolic blood pressure but a significant increase in diastolic blood pressure with exercise training.
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GildersRMVoinerCDudleyGA: Endurance training and blood pressure in normotensive and hypertensive adultsMed Sci Sports Exerc1989, 21:629–636.
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RomanOCamuzziALVillalonEKlennerC: Physical training program in arterial hypertension: A long-term prospective follow-upCardiology1981, 67:230–243. Thefirst study to indicate that low-intensity exercise training may be as beneficial as higher-intensity training in hypertensive individuals.
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ReavenGM: Role of insulin resistance in human diseaseDiabetes1988, 37:1595–1607. Areview summarizing the potential role of insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia in hypertension. The paper also outlines the physiological mechanisms whereby the two may be linked.
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WoodPDStefanickML: Exercise, fitness, and atherosclerosis In Exercise, Fitness, and Health. Edited by McPhersonBD.Champaign, Illinois: Human Kinetics Press; 409–423.
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SasakiJUrataHTanabeYKinoshitaATanakaHShindoM: Mild exercise therapy increases serum high-density lipoprotein2 cholesterol levels in patients with essential hypertensionAm J Med Sci1989, 297:220–223.
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HolloszyJOSchultzJKusnierkiewiczJHagbergJMEhsaniAA: Effects of exercise on glucose tolerance and insulin resistance. Acta Med Scand1987, (suppl 711):55–65.
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AndersonKMWilsonPWFOdellPMKannelWB: An updated coronary risk profileCirculation1991, 83:356–362. Themost recent regression models for the prediction of the risk of CHD, which allows estimation of the rates of CHD developed over periods of up to 12 years on the basis of initial CHD risk factor profile.
