Kume D, Nishiwaki M, Takahara R, Hotta N. The effectiveness of bench step exercise for ameliorating acute mental stress-induced arterial stiffening.
Eur J Appl Physiol 2022;
122:1875-1884. [PMID:
35546354 PMCID:
PMC9094128 DOI:
10.1007/s00421-022-04962-y]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2022] [Accepted: 04/26/2022] [Indexed: 01/19/2023]
Abstract
Purpose
This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of bench step (BS) exercise for ameliorating arterial stiffening caused by acute mental stress (MS).
Methods
Fifteen young healthy men participated in two randomized trials: rest (RE) and exercise (EX) trials. Following a 5-min MS task (first task), the RE trial participants rested on a chair for 10 min (from 10 to 20 min after task cessation); the EX trial participants performed BS exercise for the same duration. At 40 min after the first task, the participants performed the same task (second task) again. Heart–brachial pulse wave velocity (PWV) (hbPWV), brachial–ankle PWV (baPWV), heart–ankle PWV (haPWV), and the cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI) were measured simultaneously at 5, 30, and 50 min after the first task.
Results
Both trials caused significant elevations in hbPWV, haPWV, and CAVI at 5 min after the first task; these changes persisted until 30 min after the task in the RE trial, while they were abolished in the EX trial. baPWV significantly increased at 30 min after the task in the RE trial, but not in the EX trial. After the second task (from 30 to 50 min after the first task), none of the parameters significantly increased in the RE trial, although the values remained above baseline levels. In the EX trial, hbPWV, haPWV, and CAVI showed significant elevations.
Conclusion
Our findings suggest that a 10-min BS exercise after acute MS can counteract stress-induced arterial stiffening, but has only a limited effect against subsequent acute MS.
Supplementary Information
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00421-022-04962-y.
Collapse