Acute Hypotension after High-Intensity Interval Exercise in Metabolic Syndrome Patients

The purpose of this study was to compare the magnitude of post-exercise hypotension (PEH) after a bout of cycling exercise using high-intensity interval training (HIIT) in comparison to a bout of traditional moderate-intensity continuous exercise (CE). After supine rest 14 obese (31 +/- 1 kg.m(-2)) middle-age (57 +/- 2 y) metabolic syndrome patients (50 % hypertensive) underwent a bout of HIIT or a bout of CE in a random order and then returned to supine recovery for another 45 min. Exercise trials were isocaloric and compared to a no-exercise trial (CONT) of supine rest for a total of 160 min. Before and after exercise we assessed blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR), cardiac output (Q), systemic vascular resistance (SVR), intestinal temperature (T-INT), forearm skin blood flow (SKBF) and percent dehydration. HIIT produced a larger post-exercise reduction in systolic blood pressure than CE in the hypertensive group (-20 +/- 6 vs. -5 +/- 3 mmHg) and in the normotensive group (-8 +/- 3 vs. -3 +/- 2 mmHg) while HIIT reduced SVR below CE (P < 0.05). Percent dehydration was larger after HIIT, and post-exercise T-INT and SKBF increased only after HIIT (all P < 0.05). Our findings suggest that HIIT is a superior exercise method to CE to acutely reduce blood pressure in MSyn subjects.