Effects of acute swimming exercise on blood pressure and arterial stiffness in young subjects.

Abstract

Swimming is one of the aerobic exercise, most recommended forms for blood pressure and body weight control. Although the hemodynamic response to swimming may be expected to be different from the response to land-based exercise there is little information on the effects of swimming exercise on arterial stiffness. The purpose of this study was to compare the acute effects of swimming and walking as a control exercise on arterial stiffness in young subjects. Twenty-six healthy subjects (age 21±2 yrs and body mass index 22±2 kg/m 2 ) were randomly assigned to either an acute bout of swimming exercise (n=14, 1,500 m for male and 1,200 m for female at 60 70% of heart rate reserve) or walking exercise (n=12, 30-minute at same intensity with ∼ swimming). Carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity and aortic augmentation index as indices of aortic stiffness were measured using applanation tonometry. All variables were measured at baseline, 20 and 40 minutes after each exercise. Walking exercise significantly decreased systolic and diastolic blood pressure (p<.05), but there was no significant changes following the swimming exercise. Aortic augmentation index was significantly increased following the swimming exercise 20 minutes post exercise (-8.5±11.3 to -3.7±10.7%, p<.05), but did not significantly changes following the walking exercise. Carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity was increased after swimming exercise (6.75±0.89 to 6.98±0.66 m/s) and decreased after walking exercise (6.28±0.61 to 6.12±0.57 m/s) at 20 minutes post exercise, but changes were not statistically significant. These findings suggest that relative to moderate intensity walking, acute swimming less decreases blood pressure and arterial stiffness. Further studies are needed to clarify the effects of long term swimming exercise on arterial stiffness.