Intermittent Standing and Prior Exercise as Strategies to Prevent Arterial Stiffening That Can Arise From Prolonged Sitting

<p>Prolonged sitting can cause adverse vascular responses, including elevations in aortic stiffness which might contribute to cardiovascular disease (CVD). Few studies have investigated the impact of intermittent standing and/or prior exercise as strategies to mitigate these deleterious vascular changes. <strong>Purpose:</strong> to explore vascular health responses to prolonged sitting, with and without intermittent standing and/or prior exercise. <strong>Methods: </strong>15 males aged between 18 and 31 years were recruited. Participants completed a control condition (Sitting Only), and three randomized strategy conditions (Sitting Plus Standing, Exercise Plus Sitting, Exercise Plus Sitting Plus Standing). For all conditions, measurements of carotid-femoral PWV (cfPWV) were taken at pre- and post-intervention, and brachial and central blood pressure (BP) at pre-, 1-hour-, 2-hours-, and 3-hours-intervention. <strong>Results: </strong>Condition and time did not interact significantly for any vascular parameters. cfPWV significantly increased from pre- to post-intervention for all conditions (p=0.003, p=0.043, p=0.001, p=0.008), as well for brachial and central diastolic BP for the control condition (p=0.044, p=0.015). Brachial systolic BP at 3-hours-intervention and central systolic BP at 1-hour-intervention were significantly higher for the control condition compared to the Exercise Plus Sitting Plus Standing condition (p=0.005, p=0.010). <strong>Conclusions:</strong> BP and cfPWV may not be meaningfully influenced by these strategies and do not seem to be related. These strategies may reduce BP in the brachial and aortic arteries, and a combination of prior exercise and intermittent standing may reduce systolic BP more effectively. Future research should explore mechanistic links between sitting and aortic stiffening and experiment with other strategies.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science (MS)

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters Thesis

Year dc:date.available

2022

Author dc:creator

• Wright, Alexander

Contributors dc:contributor

• Dr. Stephanie McCoy
• Dr. Riley Galloway
• Dr. Paul Donahue

• Sitting
• Aorta
• Stiffening
• Strategies
• Exercise
• Standing

Repository record dc:identifier

https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/910

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:aquila.usm.edu:masters_theses-1977