Abstract
Despite the fact that swimming is widely recommended for the prevention and treatment of hypertension, no study has examined the potential efficacy of regular swimming exercise for lowering blood pressure in hypertensive humans. To test the hypothesis that regular swimming exercise lowers resting blood pressure, previously-sedentary individuals with stage I to II hypertension were divided into a swim training (n=12) and non-exercising control group(n=6). The training group swam at 60% of maximal heart rate reserve for 45 minutes per day 3 days/week for 10 weeks whereas the control group remained sedentary. In the swim training group, systolic blood pressure fell from 150±5 to 144±4 mmHg (P<0.05). Diastolic and mean arterial blood pressure did not change significantly. Resting heart rate decreased from 81±4 to 71±3 bpm (P<0.05). Although caloric and macronutrient intake estimated from the dietary records stayed constant before and after training, body mass and body fat percentage showed no statistically significant changes. No significant changes were observed in plasma epinephrine and norepinephrine concentrations, casual forearm vascular resistance, plasma volume and blood volume. There were no significant changes in any of these variables in the control group. It was concluded that swim training elicited a significant reduction in arterial blood pressure in individuals with hypertension although the magnitude of the blood pressure reduction was smaller than that typically observed in land-based exercise training.
Published Version
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