Acute effect of aerobic dance exercise on blood pressure of normotensive pregnant Nigerian women

Exercise has been shown to reduce blood pressure (BP) in hypertensive patients.However, studies reporting reduced BP from chronic exercises might disregard an acute effect exercise could have on BP.Aerobic dance is one of the commonly recommended exercises for pregnant women without complications.The study aims to determine the acute effect of aerobic dance exercise of moderate intensity, on the BP of normotensive pregnant women.Pre-test/post-test research design involving 24 pregnant women of not less than 12 weeks gestation who volunteered from among women attending antenatal clinic at the Federal Medical Centre, Owerri, Nigeria.The women were screened and met the inclusion criteria, had their Systolic and Diastolic blood pressures (SBP and DBP) measured before participating in an exercise.The SBP and DBP were measured again at the end of the exercise and finally after 30 min rest.Data was analysed using Repeated ANOVA.SBP changed significantly between pre-exercise and 30 min post exercise rest but not between Pre-exercise and after 30 min exercise.DBP decreased significantly from pre-exercise to 30 min post exercise rest but not between after 30 min exercise and 30 min post exercise rest.In conclusion, moderate intensity aerobic dance exercise did not precipitate adverse acute cardiovascular response.Aerobic dance may be effective in management of hypertension in pregnancy.