Abstract
Summary
To determine the effect of age on some cardiovascular responses to static exercise, three groups of male subjects performed handgrip exercise bouts in which each maintained 15 or 30% of his MVC for 3 min. Mean ages for the three groups were 29, 68, and 81 yr. There were no significant differences among the control BPs or HRs of the three groups. At 15% MVC, there were no significant differences in the cardiovascular responses among the groups. At 30% MVC, however, the HR response of the youngest group was significantly greater than that of the middle group, which was significantly greater than the oldest group. Additionally, the diastolic BP response at 30% MVC was significantly greater in the youngest group than in the oldest. No other significant differences were shown at 30% MVC. The results indicate that as a function of increasing age, there is a decrease in the response of HR and diastolic BP to static handgrip exercise.
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