Aging exaggerates blood pressure response to ischemic rhythmic handgrip exercise in humans

The systolic and diastolic blood pressure responses to low-intensity rhythmic handgrip exercise with postexercise muscle ischemia in older adults were demonstrated to be higher than that of young, and young and middle-aged groups, respectively. Additionally, aging persisted as a significant determinant explaining the variance in the blood pressure response to low-intensity rhythmic handgrip exercise during postexercise muscle ischemia. These finding suggests that aging enhances pressor response to ischemic exercise. AbstractIschemic skeletal muscle conditions are known to augment exercise-induced increases in blood pressure (BP). Aging is also a factor that enhances the pressor response to exercise. However, the effects of aging on the BP response to ischemic exercise remain unclear. We, therefore, tested the hypothesis that aging enhances the BP response to rhythmic handgrip (RHG) exercise during postexercise muscle ischemia (PEMI). We divided the normotensive participants without cardiovascular diseases into three age groups: young (n = 26; age, 18–28 years), middle-aged (n = 23; age, 35–59 years), and older adults (n = 23; age, 60–80 years). The participants performed RHG exercise with minimal effort for 1 min after rest with and without PEMI, which was induced by inflating a cuff on the upper arm just before the isometric handgrip exercise ended; the intensity was 30% of maximal voluntary contraction for ce. Under PEMI, the increase in diastolic BP (DBP) f...
Source: Physiological Reports - Category: Physiology Authors: Tags: ORIGINAL ARTICLE Source Type: research