It is well known that blood pressure is lower in hypertensive men following a period of dynamic exercise. A group at New Britain General Hospital, Stoors, CT, studied 18 pre-menopausal women to see if this effect (named post-exercise hypotension, or PEH) could be documented and the cause identified. Eleven of the women had normal blood pressure, and 7 had hypertension.

The women wore ambulatory blood pressure monitors throughout the day. Pressures and other hemodynamic and blood chemistry parameters were noted before and after a 40-minute rest period, and after 40 minutes of cycle exercise. PEH occurred only in the hypertensive women. This effect was seen for up to 7 hours after exercise. The authors conclude that the PEH effect may be sufficient to normalize the pressure of hypertensive women for most of the day.

Source:  Pescatello LS, et al. Dynamic exercise normalizes resting blood pressure in mildly hypertensive pre-menopausal women. American Heart Journal 1999 (Nov);138:916-921. (Abs)