Acute Exercise Reduces Vascular Reactivity to Mental Challenge in Offspring of Hypertensive Families

Offspring of hypertensive families display an exaggerated skeletal muscle vasodilatation response to mental challenge. Previous research has shown that aerobically trained offspring hypertensives demonstrate reduced cardiovascular reactivity to mental challenge in comparison with their untrained counterparts. However, the effect of acute exercise on limb blood flow reactivity in offspring hypertensives is undetermined. PURPOSE To examine the effect of acute exercise on forearm blood flow (FBF) reactivity to mental challenge in males with a family history of hypertension. METHODS Twelve normotensive males (19.2 ± 0.4 yr) with a family history of hypertension performed the Stroop mental challenge for 10 min, after 20 min of cycle ergometry exercise, at 65–70% maximal oxygen uptake. On a separate occasion the mental challenge was performed after an attention control task. All subjects completed both conditions and the order was counterbalanced. FBF was measured using venous occlusion plethysmography during post-exercise recovery and the Stroop. Also, blood pressure was measured using a Finapres. RESULTS Post-exercise FBF reactivity was significantly blunted compared to the control condition (FBF change from baseline to Stroop: 32.8 ± 5.5versus 98.2 ± 26.0%) as was forearm vascular conductance change (10.0 ± 5.5 versus 70.1 ± 20.5%). CONCLUSION Acute exercise reduces FBF reactivity to mental challenge in individuals with a family history of hypertension.