The Effect of Cardiovascular Responses after Aerobic Exercise in Menstrual Cycle

Abstract

Purpose: We investigated the effect of menstrual cycle on the cardiovascular responses during recovery period from exercise. 10 healthy women were participated in the early follicular phase (EP: low estrogen and low progesterone: 1 - 4 days) and the late follicular phase (LP: high estrogen and low progesterone: 10 - 13 days) during menstrual cycle. Methods: All subjects completed a graded cycling exercise testing to determine the relative exercise intensity. All subjects were assessed systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), mean arterial pressure (MAP), heart rate (HR), stroke volume (SV), cardiac output (CO), and total vascular conductance (TVC) at resting and during recovery period from moderated cycling exercise during EP and LP. Results: During EP, compared with LP, resting SBP and MAP were higher and TVC was lower (p < 0.05). During recovery from exercise, SBP and MAP were higher and TVC lower during EP compared with LP (p < 0.05). There were no differences in HR, SV and CO in both phases. Conclusions: This study could be increased the peripheral vasoconstriction in low estrogen levels. And during early follicular phase with low estrogen level, it may maintain an increased blood pressure during recovery period following cycling. We suggest that the timing of the menstrual cycle should be considered when measuring blood pressure during clinical exercise testing.