Effects of acute bout of continuous and interval aerobic training on peripheral blood pressure in sedentary healthy adults

Long-term effects of continuous aerobic exercise on body systems are frequently reported, but few studies have compared the effects of continuous andinterval aerobic exercises on blood pressure. Considering a majority of individual's tendency to do short-term and discontinuous exercises and, on the other hand, the prevalence of hypertension in the community as one of the most important health problems, the present study was conducted to compare the effect of interval continuous aerobic exercise on blood pressure.
The study followed a quasi-experimental design. A total of 20 healthy, sedentary participants (mean age: 3.5 ± 26 years and Body Mass Index: 2.8 ± 24.4 Kg/m2) participated in two sessions of physical activity, including walking and running on a treadmill. To check the heart health and to calculate the maximum target heart rate, the stress test was carried out under the supervision of cardiologist a week prior to the intervention. Then, in two concequtive sessions, continuous submaximal aerobic (with an intensity equivalent to 60 percent of maximum heart rate target) and interval aerobic interventions (with an intensity equivalent to 50 and 80% of maximum heart rate) were randomly assigned to the two groups. Heart rate and blood pressure were measured before, after, and up to 15 minutes after completion of the intervention. Data was analyzed running student's t-test (to compare the two types of interventions) and paired t-test (to compare the means before and after the intervention).
After a continuous aerobic (P= 0.02) and interval exercise (P = 0.04), a significant decrease was observed in the diastolic blood pressure. Also, the blood pressure changes were not found to be significantly different in the two types of intervention.
Our findings indicated that a continuous and interval aerobic exercise can influence diastolic blood pressure.