Early Morning Exercise for Blood Pressure Improvements

A presentation at the annual meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine and the Second World Congress on Exercise is Medicine suggests that early morning exercise is more beneficial to blood pressure and to getting a good night’s sleep than a workout at 1 PM or 7 PM. Appalachian State University's Dr. Scott Collier and student research assistants Kimberly Fairbrother and Ben Cartner had research volunteers between the ages of 40 and 60 walking on a treadmill for 30 minutes, three times a week.Tracking blood pressure and sleep patterns of the volunteers revealed that the early morning group saw a 10% reduction in blood pressure, which lasted throughout the day. Additionally, that group’s blood pressure dropped an average of 25% at night, and they slept longer and had more beneficial sleep cycles. These benefits were not observed in the mid-day or early evening groups."We know a rush of hormones is released when a person first awakens in the morning that raises blood pressure," Collier commented. "Our blood pressure dips at night which helps reset the body, keeping blood pressure within a certain range and relaxing vasculature and the heart. We know the long-term clinical manifestations of poor sleep include hypertension and myocardial infarction or heart attacks. Also, obesity and diabetes can be related to poor sleep. We wanted to know if there could be a best benefit of exercise related to improved blood pressure." However, Dr. Collier had expected to see the greatest benefits to the 7 PM exercise group.Collier next will study individuals who exercise at different times of the day to determine if changes in hormone secretion are impacting their blood pressure levels.A presentation at the annual meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine and the Second World Congress on Exercise is Medicine suggests that early morning exercise is more beneficial to blood pressure and to getting a good night’s sleep than a workout at 1 PM or 7 PM. Appalachian State University's Dr. Scott Collier and student research assistants Kimberly Fairbrother and Ben Cartner had research volunteers between the ages of 40 and 60 walking on a treadmill for 30 minutes, three times a week.Tracking blood pressure and sleep patterns of the volunteers revealed that the early morning group saw a 10% reduction in blood pressure, which lasted throughout the day. Additionally, that group’s blood pressure dropped an average of 25% at night, and they slept longer and had more beneficial sleep cycles. These benefits were not observed in the mid-day or early evening groups."We know a rush of hormones is released when a person first awakens in the morning that raises blood pressure," Collier commented. "Our blood pressure dips at night which helps reset the body, keeping blood pressure within a certain range and relaxing vasculature and the heart. We know the long-term clinical manifestations of poor sleep include hypertension and myocardial infarction or heart attacks. Also, obesity and diabetes can be related to poor sleep. We wanted to know if there could be a best benefit of exercise related to improved blood pressure." However, Dr. Collier had expected to see the greatest benefits to the 7 PM exercise group.Collier next will study individuals who exercise at different times of the day to determine if changes in hormone secretion are impacting their blood pressure levels.