Acute mental stress-caused arterial stiffening can be counteracted by brief aerobic exercise.

Abstract

Acute mental stress (MS) causes an elevation in pulse wave velocity (PWV), an index of arterial stiffness. In contrast, aerobic exercise acutely decreases arterial stiffness, even in the short term. The present study aimed to examine whether acute MS-caused arterial stiffening can be counteracted by brief aerobic exercise. Thirteen young healthy men (mean age, 20 ± 1years) participated in two randomized experimental visits where they were subjected to acute MS followed by seated rest (RE) or cycling exercise (EX) trials. Following a 5-min MS task, the participants in the RE trial rested on a chair for 10min (from 10 to 20min after the cessation of the task), whereas those in the EX trial cycled at 35% of heart rate reserve for the same duration. Heart-brachial PWV (hbPWV), brachial-ankle PWV (baPWV), heart-ankle PWV (haPWV), and the cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI) were simultaneously measured at baseline and 5, 30, and 45min after the task. Both trials caused significant elevations (P < 0.05) in hbPWV, haPWV, and CAVI at 5min after the task; subsequently,this persisted until 45min after the task in the RE trial, whereas the elevations in the EX trial were eliminated. In the RE trial, baPWV significantly increased (P < 0.05) at 30 and 45min after the task, whereas such an increase was not observed in the EX trial. The findings of the present study reveal that brief aerobic exercise counteracts arterial stiffening caused by acute MS.