SWIMMING TRAINING LOWERS THE RESTING BLOOD-PRESSURE IN INDIVIDUALS WITH HYPERTENSION

Background Despite the fact that swimming is often recommended for the prevention and treatment of hypertension, no study has examined the p otential efficacy of regular swimming exercise for lowering the blood pressure in hypertensive humans. Objective To test the hypothesis that regular swimming exercise lowers the resting blood pressure. Design A 10-week closely supervised swimming training program compared with a non-exercising control group. Patients Eighteen previously sedentary m en and women [aged 48 +/- 2 years (mean +/- SEM)] with stage 1 or 2 es sential hypertension. Results The resting heart rate, an index of card iovascular adaptation, decreased in the swimming training group from 8 1 +/- 4 to 71 +/- 3 beats/min (P < 0.01). The body mass and body fat p ercentage did not show statistically significant changes, The systolic blood pressure of patients in the seated position fell significantly (P < 0.05) from 150 +/- 5 to 144 +/- 4 mmHg. The seated diastolic bloo d pressure did not change significantly. A similar magnitude of reduct ions in systolic blood pressure (P < 0.05) was also found in patients in the supine position, No significant changes in plasma catecholamine concentrations, casual forearm vascular resistance, plasma volume and blood volume were observed, There were no significant changes in any of these variables in the control group, Conclusion Swimming training elicits significant reductions in arterial blood pressure at rest in i ndividuals with hypertension. This is a clinically important finding s ince swimming can be a highly useful alternative to land-based exercis es for hypertensive patients with obesity, exercise-induced asthma, or orthopedic injuries.