WALKING, BUT NOT WEIGHT-LIFTING, ACUTELY REDUCES SYSTOLIC BLOOD-PRESSURE IN OLDER, SEDENTARY MEN AND WOMEN

An elderly patient population was used to investigate whether an acute bout of aerobic exercise (AE) would reduce systolic blood pressure (S BP) to a greater extent than would a bout of weight lifting (WL). SBPs were studied in the context of a laboratory stressor as well as durin g activities of daily living using ambulatory monitoring devices (AMBP s). Patients participated in a laboratory stresser and were monitored via AMBP for 8 hr. SBPs were lower for up to 5 hr postexercise for the AE treatment only. In addition, in comparison to no-exercise control data, baseline SBP was lower for the AE group than the WL group prior to the stressor. Subjects in the AE condition also tended to have lowe r SBP responses following exercise than patients in the WL group, alth ough these differences did not reach a conventional level of statistic al significance. These data provide evidence that single bouts of AE, but not WL, may lower SBP in elderly patients, even for those who have compromised function due to osteoarthritis of the knee.