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Exercise, the Brain, and Hypertension

  • Hypertension and the Brain (S Stocker, Section Editor)
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Abstract

Exercise training is the cornerstone in the prevention and management of hypertension and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. However, blood pressure (BP) response to exercise is exaggerated in hypertension often to the range that raises the safety concern, which may prohibit patients from regular exercise. This augmented pressor response is shown to be related to excessive sympathetic stimulation caused by overactive muscle reflex. Exaggerated sympathetic-mediated vasoconstriction further contributes to the rise in BP during exercise in hypertension. Exercise training has been shown to reduce both exercise pressor reflex and attenuate the abnormal vasoconstriction. Hypertension also contributes to cognitive impairment, and exercise training has been shown to improve cognitive function through both BP-dependent and BP-independent pathways. Additional studies are still needed to determine if newer modes of exercise training such as high-intensity interval training may offer advantages over traditional continuous moderate training in improving BP and brain health in hypertensive patients.

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Conflict of Interest

Drs. Peri-Okonny, Fu, Zhang, and Vongpatanasin declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

Funding Support

Dr. Vongpatanasin is supported by R01HL078782 and RO1HL113738.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hypertension Section, Cardiology Division, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 5323 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas, TX, 75390-8586, USA

    Poghni Peri-Okonny, Qi Fu, Rong Zhang & Wanpen Vongpatanasin

  2. Institute of Exercise and Environmental Medicine, Dallas, TX, USA

    Qi Fu & Rong Zhang

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  1. Poghni Peri-Okonny
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  2. Qi Fu
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  4. Wanpen Vongpatanasin
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Correspondence to Wanpen Vongpatanasin.

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Peri-Okonny, P., Fu, Q., Zhang, R. et al. Exercise, the Brain, and Hypertension. Curr Hypertens Rep 17, 82 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11906-015-0593-6

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