Post-exercise hypotension in response to high-intensity interval exercise: Potential mechanisms

Post-exercise hypotension (PEH) is a phenomenon characterized by a decrease in systolic and/or diastolic blood pressure after a single session of physical exercise, 1 in comparison both to resting values (pre-exercise) and to a control condition (without exercise), with no clinical symptoms (such as syncope).The clinical relevance of PEH is well established, since the reductions in blood pressure appear to be large and to last for several hours, 2---4 thus representing an acute reduction in cardiovascular risk.Another aspect that has gained prominence is the probable association between acute and chronic blood pressure responses to exercise. 5In other words, it has been observed that individuals who experience a greater acute blood pressure reduction also experience greater reductions after a training program. 6As a result, PEH after different types of exercise has been widely analyzed.The guidelines for blood pressure control generally recommend continuous aerobic exercise, 7,8 since a large body of evidence has demonstrated its hypotensive effects in normotensive, prehypertensive and hypertensive patients. 2,3,8owever, high-intensity interval exercise (HIIE) has more