| Keywords |
Cardiovascular hemodynamics ; Postmenopausal ; Prehypertention ; Circuit exercise training |
| Abstract |
It has been reported that risk of death caused by cardiovascular diseases (CAD) in women markedly increases with the onset of menopause. Low levels of cardiorespiratory fitness are associated with high CAD and allcause mortality. However, the effects of circuit exercise training in sedentary postmenopausal women with prehypertention are not studied. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate whether the cardiovascular responses to increasing exercise intensity were differ in postmenopausal women participating in an exercise program. Fourteen prehypertensive postmenopausal women were recruited for this study. All subjects underwent a maximal graded exercise testing. Following at least 48 hours, all subjects reported to the laboratory and were instrumented to measure the cardiovascular responses at rest and during exercise. The experimental procedures repeated after exercise training program. Systolic blood pressure were significantly decreased at rest and 40% of VO2max, and diastolic blood pressure at 60% of VO2max, and mean arterial pressure at 40% and 60% of VO2max after exercise training program. There were no differences in both stroke volume and cardiac output responses, where heart rate was significantly decreased at 40% if VO2max. Total vascular conductance was significantly increased at 60% of VO2max. Thus, attenuated blood pressure responses were mainly mediated via increases in total vascular conductances. This study suggests that the decreases in blood pressure response in postmenopausal women after exercise program may be due to improvement in function of exercise presser reflex. |