ABSTRACT
In adults, there is a decrease in both systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressure immediately following an acute bout of muscular exercise. This hypotensive effect is well documented in both hypertensive[1, 2] and normotensive[3, 4] individuals and may persist for up to 12.7 h[5]. Several mechanisms have been proposed to account for this effect including the release of vasoactive metabolites from the exercising muscle[3], the resetting of baroreflex control of sympathetic tone[2], inhibition of sympathetic nervous activity[6] and thermoregulatory induced changes in peripheral blood flow following exercise[7]. However, despite these suggestions the underlying haemodynamic changes that occur immediately post-exercise remain unclear.
