Abstract
Purpose
Prolonged sitting acutely increases arterial stiffness, with interruption strategies only providing limited success in offsetting these rises. Acute aerobic exercise is a potent stimulus to decrease arterial stiffness. However, limited information exists on the effectiveness of acute exercise to maintain arterial stiffness when performed prior to prolonged sitting, particularly within physically active individuals.
Methods
Using a randomized crossover design, 22 young, active individuals (50% female) performed two conditions 30 min of walking at 55–65% of heart rate reserve (EX) and 30 min of standing (STAND) followed by 2.5-h of sitting. Brachial-femoral (bfPWV) and femoral-ankle pulse wave velocity (faPWV) were assessed at Baseline, post-exercise and pre-sitting (Pre), and post-sitting (Post) as estimates of central and peripheral arterial stiffness, respectively.
Results
For bfPWV, no interaction, condition, or time effects were observed. For faPWV, an interaction was present (p < 0.001); compared to Baseline, there was a 6.1% decrease for EX (− 0.4 m/s, p < 0.001) and a 4.6% increase for STAND (0.3 m/s, p = 0.016) for STAND such that there was an 11.3% difference between conditions at Pre (0.7 m/s, p < 0.001). From Pre to Post, EX then increased by 11.7% (0.9 m/s p < 0.001) while STAND remained unchanged, resulting in no difference between conditions (0.1 m/s, p = 0.569).
Conclusions
While aerobic exercise resulted in a significant decrease in faPWV prior to sitting, the prior exercise bout did not confer a protective effect against the deleterious effects of uninterrupted sitting. Future work should investigate the combined effect of prior exercise and sitting interruption strategies on markers of arterial stiffness.
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Data availability
The data supporting the conclusions of this article can be made available by the authors, upon reasonable request.
Abbreviations
- CVD:
-
Cardiovascular disease
- PWV:
-
Pulse wave velocity
- PAR-Q:
-
Physical activity readiness questionnaire
- IPAQ-SF:
-
International physical activity questionnaire-short form
- WHO:
-
World Health Organization
- HR:
-
Heart rate
- HRR:
-
Heart rate reserve
- bfPWV:
-
Brachial-femoral pulse wave velocity
- faPWV:
-
Femoral-ankle pulse wave velocity
- MAP:
-
Mean arterial pressure
- PTT:
-
Pulse transit time
- D:
-
Arterial path length
- SD:
-
Standard deviation
- BMI:
-
Body mass index
- RHR:
-
Resting heart rate
- MVPA:
-
Moderate-vigorous physical activity
- SBP:
-
Systolic blood pressure
- DBP:
-
Diastolic blood pressure
- ES:
-
Effect size
- CI:
-
Confidence intervals
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Funding
This work was supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Grants R01 HL157187 and R01 HL162805A (both to LS).
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SR: Conceptualisation; Data Collection; Drafted Original Manuscript; Formal Analysis; Writing – Review and Editing. CP: Methodology; Formal Analysis; Writing – Review and Editing. LCB-F: Conceptualisation; Methodology; Writing – Review and Editing. KSO: Conceptualisation; Methodology; Writing – Review and Editing. LS: Conceptualisation; Methodology; Formal Analysis; Writing – Review and Editing. EDH: Conceptualisation; Methodology; Formal Analysis; Writing – Review and Editing.
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Riley, S., Paterson, C., Bates-Fraser, L.C. et al. Uninterrupted prolonged sitting and arterial stiffness: moderating effect of prior aerobic exercise in physically active adults. Eur J Appl Physiol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-024-05419-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-024-05419-0