THE EFFECT OF EXERCISE ON BLOOD PRESSURE IN HYPERTENSIVE INDIVIDUALS
Saadet Banu KELEŞ
Bursa Yüksek İhtisas Eğitim ve Araştırma Hastanesi, Bursa
Keywords: Physical activity, exercise, hypertension
Abstract
Regular physical activity, an important lifestyle modification, has a great role to play as a single or additive treatment for hypertension, when indicated. The present review assesses randomized controlled studies (RCTs) that investigated blood pressure (BP) lowering effect of various exercise models in hypertensive individuals. Accordingly, regular medium-to-high-intensity aerobic activity reduces BP. Besides; while RCTs on isometric (static) activity revealed a BP reduction of similar magnitude in hypertensives, dynamic resistance training caused less effect. Physical activity is the first-line treatment in hypertensive patients with low-medium cardiovascular risk. In patients with higher risk profiles, physical activity is always recommended as an additional treatment to pharmacological treatment. Elaborated evaluation must be applied to athletes with hypertension. Athletes with well-controlled BP, having no additional risk factors or target organ damage, are eligible for all sports.
