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. 2014 Dec 12:10:691-8.
doi: 10.2147/VHRM.S73688. eCollection 2014.

Effects of exercise timing on sleep architecture and nocturnal blood pressure in prehypertensives

Kimberly Fairbrother  1 , Ben Cartner  1 , Jessica R Alley  1 , Chelsea D Curry  1 , David L Dickinson  2 , David M Morris  1 , Scott R Collier  1
Affiliations

Effects of exercise timing on sleep architecture and nocturnal blood pressure in prehypertensives

Kimberly Fairbrother et al. Vasc Health Risk Manag. .

Abstract

Background: During nocturnal sleep, blood pressure (BP) "dips" compared to diurnal BP, reducing stress on the cardiovascular system. Both the hypotensive response elicited by acute aerobic exercise and sleep quality can impact this dipping response.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of aerobic exercise timing on circadian BP changes and sleep architecture.

Materials and methods: Twenty prehypertensive subjects completed the study. During four test sessions, participants first completed a graded exercise test to exhaustion and then performed 30 minutes of treadmill exercise at 7 am (7A), 1 pm (1P), and 7 pm (7P) in a random, counterbalanced order at 65% of the heart rate obtained at peak oxygen uptake. An ambulatory cuff was used to monitor BP responses during 24 hours following exercise, and an ambulatory sleep-monitoring headband was worn during sleep following each session.

Results: Aerobic exercise at 7A invoked a greater dip in nocturnal systolic BP than exercise at 1P or 7P, although the greatest dip in nocturnal diastolic BP occurred following 7P. Compared to 1P, 7A also invoked greater time spent in deep sleep.

Conclusion: These data indicate that early morning may be the most beneficial time to engage in aerobic exercise to enhance nocturnal BP changes and quality of sleep.

Keywords: aerobic exercise; nocturnal dipping; prehypertension.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Nocturnal Blood Pressures. Notes: (A) Mean nighttime systolic BP (SBP) and (B) diastolic BP (DBP) compared to each time-of-day exercise bout. Data are means ± standard error of mean. *7A significantly different from 1P (P≤0.05). Abbreviations: BP, blood pressure; 7A, 7 am exercise condition; 1P, 1 pm exercise condition; 7P, 7 pm exercise condition.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Systolic and diastolic blood pressure (BP) dipping compared to each time-of-day exercise bout. Data are means ± standard error of mean. Notes: *7A significantly different from 1P (P≤0.05). #7P significantly different than 1P (P<0.05). Abbreviations: 7A, 7 am exercise condition; 1P, 1 pm exercise condition; 7P, 7 pm exercise condition.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Time spent in deep and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep compared to each time-of-day exercise bout. Data are means ± standard error of mean. Notes: *7A significantly different from 1P (P≤0.05); **7A significantly different from 1P (P≤0.01). Abbreviations: 7A, 7 am exercise condition; 1P, 1 pm exercise condition; 7P, 7 pm exercise condition.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Sleep-onset latency compared to each time-of-day exercise bout. Data are means ± standard error of mean. Notes: **7A significantly different from 1P and 7P (P≤0.01); #7P significantly different from 1P (P≤0.01). Abbreviations: 7A, 7 am exercise condition; 1P, 1 pm exercise condition; 7P, 7 pm exercise condition.
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