Grant: Master's Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a major cause of disability and is the leading risk factor in the world for mortality. Both elevated heart rate (HR) and blood pressure (BP) are risk factors for CVD. Recently new data has been released on the classification of hypertension, stating that BP >130/80 (systolic/diastolic) is considered hypertensive. This significantly increases the amount of individuals classified as hypertensive. Acute bouts of endurance exercise have a lowering effect on blood pressure in the hours following exercise, termed post exercise hypotension (PEH). This is important as the magnitude of PEH may predict the magnitude of BP lowering after chronic training. The onset of hypertension can be reduced or prevented with the use of an endurance exercise training program, however, lack of time is usually a barrier to beginning or undergoing this type of program. Sprint interval training (SIT) has emerged as a time-efficient protocol that typically includes 4 repeated 30 second efforts, interspersed by 4 minutes of recovery. The aerobic adaptions to SIT are similar to those observed in endurance training even though training volume and time is reduced. Modified SIT protocols that included the same total amount of work and rest, just a different work and rest times have been shown to be just as effective, and even more enjoyable than traditional SIT protocols. The use of SIT is a potentially promising avenue for pre-hypertensive and hypertensive individuals to lower and/or stabilize their blood pressure in a time efficient, effective manner. The proposed study looks to identify if a modified SIT protocol would be effective in reducing resting BP and HR, both acutely and with chronic training in middle aged adults.