Effect of morning exercise with or without breaks in prolonged sitting on blood pressure in older overweight/obese adults: Evidence for sex differences

Both exercise and breaks in prolonged sitting can reduce blood pressure (BP) in older overweight/obese adults. We investigated whether there is an additive hypotensive effect when exercise is combined with subsequent breaks in sitting. Sex differences and changes in plasma catecholamines as a potential candidate mechanism underlying BP responses were also examined. Sedentary older adults (n=67; 67±7 years; 31.2±4.1 kg/m
2
) completed 3 conditions in random order—sitting (SIT): uninterrupted sitting (8 hours, control); exercise+sitting (EX+SIT): sitting (1 hour), moderate-intensity walking (30 minutes), uninterrupted sitting (6.5 hours); exercise+breaks (EX+BR): sitting (1 hour), moderate-intensity walking (30 minutes), sitting interrupted every 30 minutes with 3 minutes of light-intensity walking (6.5 hours). Serial BP and plasma epinephrine/norepinephrine measurements occurred during 8 hours. The 8-hour average systolic and diastolic BP (mm Hg 95% CI) was lower in EX+SIT −3.4 (−4.5 to −2.3), −0.8 (−1.6 to −0.04), and EX+BR −5.1 (−6.2 to −4.0), −1.1 (−1.8 to −0.3), respectively, relative to SIT (all
P
<0.05). There was an additional reduction in average systolic BP of −1.7 (−2.8 to −0.6) in EX+BR relative to EX+SIT (
P
=0.003). This additional reduction in systolic BP was driven by women −3.2 (−4.7 to −1.7;
P
<0.001 EX+BR versus EX+SIT). Average epinephrine decreased in EX+SIT and EX+BR in women (−13% to −12%) but increased in men (+12% to +23%), respectively, relative to SIT (
P
<0.05). No differences in average norepinephrine were observed. Morning exercise reduces BP during a period of 8 hours in older overweight/obese adults compared with prolonged sitting. Combining exercise with regular breaks in sitting may be of more benefit for lowering BP in women than in men.


Clinical Trial Registration—

URL:
https://www.anzctr.org.au
. Unique identifier: ACTRN12614000737639.