Oral Bacteria Mediate Short Term Lowering of Blood Pressure Following Exercise

One of the benefits of exercise is improved cardiovascular function, and one of the ways in which this manifests is a reduced blood pressure. Maintaining a lower blood pressure is very influential over the course of aging; age-related hypertension is very damaging. Exercise tends to exhibit short term benefits immediately following a session, and then similar long term benefits when exercise is regular. Here, researchers show that the short term reduction in blood pressure following exercise is mediated in large part by oral bacteria, a most interesting finding. Whether this holds up over the long term and regular use of antibacterial mouthwash at times unrelated to exercise is another question entirely, of course. If anything, modern dentistry is the story of a futile struggle to keep any sort of oral bacteria population suppressed for any length of time. Scientists know that blood vessels open up during exercise, as the production of nitric oxide increases the diameter of the blood vessels (known as vasodilation), increasing blood flow circulation to active muscles. What has remained a mystery is how blood circulation remains higher after exercise, in turn triggering a blood-pressure lowering response known as post-exercise hypotension. Previous research has suggested that nitric oxide was not involved in this post-exercise response - and only involved during exercise - but the new study challenges these views. "It's all to do with nitric oxide degrading i...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs