Is the magnitude of acute post-exercise hypotension mediated by exercise intensity or total work done?
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of exercise intensity on the magnitude of acute post-exercise hypotension while controlling for total work done over the exercise bout. Seven normotensive physically active males aged 28 +/- 6 years (mean +/- SD) completed four experimental trials, a no exercise control, 30 min of semi-recumbent cycling at 70% [Formula: see text] (INT), cycling for 30 min at 40% [Formula: see text] (SMOD) and cycling at 40% [Formula: see text] for a time which corresponded to the same total work done as in the intense trial (LMOD). Blood pressure (BP), heart rate, stroke volume, cardiac output, total peripheral resistance, core body temperature and forearm skin and limb blood flow were measured prior to and for 20 min following the exercise bout. Post-exercise summary statistics were compared between trials with a one-factor general linear model. The change in systolic BP, averaged over the 20-min post-exercise period was significantly lower only