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Food and health

Acute effect of oral water intake during exercise on post-exercise hypotension

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 66, pages 1208–1213 (2012)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background/objectives:

Post-exercise hypotension (PEH) is a sustained reduction in mean arterial blood pressure (MAP) after prolonged exercise. As water drinking is known to elicit a large acute pressor response, we aimed to explore the effect of drinking water during exercise on PEH.

Subjects/methods:

Ten normotensive male volunteers performed the control protocol: 30 min supine rest, 60 min cycling exercise in moderate intensity, and 60 min supine rest recovery. In the water drinking protocol, the same procedure was followed but with water intake during exercise to compensate for exercise-induced body weight lost. Heart rate, MAP, cardiac output and blood flow in the brachial artery were measured pre- and post-exercise. The total vascular conductance (TVC) and the vascular conductance (VC) in the brachial artery were calculated pre- and post-exercise, and the relative change in plasma volume (ΔPV) was also measured.

Results:

Body weight loss during exercise was 0.65±0.24 kg in the control. ΔPV was not different during recovery in either protocol. MAP in the control was significantly reduced during the latter half of the recovery compared with baseline. In contrast, MAP in the water drinking showed no reduction during recovery, and was significantly higher than in the control. TVC and VC in the brachial artery were lower in the water drinking, in which vasoconstriction was relatively exaggerated.

Conclusions:

Prevention of dehydration after exercise by oral water intake, or oral water intake per se has a role in maintaining post-exercise MAP and it may be related to reduction in TVC.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported in part by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture of Japan (no. 20700526, no. 24700701 to MYE and no. 21370111, 22370091 and 23650390 to YF), the Descente and Ishimoto Memorial Foundation for the Promotion of Sports Science.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Exercise Science and Physiology, School of Health and Nutritional Sciences, Prefectural University of Hiroshima, Hiroshima, Japan

    M Y Endo, C Kajimoto, A Miura & Y Fukuba

  2. Department of Nutritional Sciences, Yasuda Women’s University, Hiroshima, Japan

    M Yamada

  3. Department of Behavioral and Health Sciences, Institute of Health Science, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan

    N Hayashi

  4. Applied Physiology Laboratory, Kobe Design University, Kobe, Japan

    S Koga

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  1. M Y Endo
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Correspondence to Y Fukuba.

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Endo, M., Kajimoto, C., Yamada, M. et al. Acute effect of oral water intake during exercise on post-exercise hypotension. Eur J Clin Nutr 66, 1208–1213 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2012.139

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