Cardiovascular benefits of exercise training in postmenopausal hypertension

Abstract

Exercise training is often considered the cornerstone of nonpharmacological therapy for postmenopausal hypertension while aerobic exercise is the mainstay of life style modification for antihypertension. Moderate-intensity aerobic exercise is well tolerated on most days of the week by most people with postmenopausal hypertension and is not suspected to detract from exercise adherence. That being said, moderate aerobic exercise may be superior for eliciting cardiovascular benefits in hypertensive postmenopausal women and resistance exercise may offer desirable benefits. The beneficial outcomes of exercise training for hypertensive postmenopausal women include improvements in blood pressure, autonomic tone, baroreflex sensitivity, oxidative stress, nitric oxide (NO), bioavailability, and lipid profiles, as well as cardiovascular function and cardiorespiratory fitness. This partly explains the fact that exercise training programs have a positive effect for cardiovascular disease in hypertensive postmenopausal women. This review is to collect and present the literature of exercise training in postmenopausal hypertension. Our review may provide the current understanding of beneficial effects and mechanisms of exercise intervention for prevention and treatment of stage 1 to 2 hypertensive postmenopausal women.