The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of brisk walking as a means of improving blood pressure and blood parameters in borderline hypertensive adolescents. Borderline hypertension was defined as systolic pressure ≧ 140mmHg or diastolic pressure ≧ 90mmHg. Twenty-two adolescents were recruited from the Kung Shan Institute of Technology at Taiwan Hsien and assigned randomly to three groups. Walking thirty minutes one time/per day included 8 adolescents (Group A), walking ten minutes three times/per day included 8 adolescents (Group B) and control group included 6 adolescents (Group C). Group C was asked to maintain their habitual lifestyle throughout the whole period of the study. The walking intensity was the heart rate 130-140 beats/minutes. The frequency of the exercise was three days a week for 12 weeks. All subjects underwent the following measurements: resting systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic BP (DBP), mean BP (MBP), triglyceride (TG), cholesterol total (TC), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), TC/HDL-C, Glucose (GC), and urea acid (UA) were evaluated before and at the end of this study. The data were analyzed by one-way ANOVA, pair t-test, and repeated two-way ANOVA to examine any changes after the training. The statistical significance was determined at the 0.05 level. The Group A, Group B resulted in a decrease in TC/HDL-C (p<0.05), but no significant changes were found in the Group C. The Group A’s resting SBP (-7.8mmHg), MBP (-5.6mmHg), DBP (-4.5mmHg), and the Group B’s MBP (-5.37mmHg), DBP (-5.5mmHg) decreased significant (p<0.05), but no significant changes in blood pressure were found in the Group C. These findings suggest that 12 weeks of different walking training can improve blood pressure and decrease TC/HDL-C in borderline hypertensive adolescents.
The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of brisk walking as a means of improving blood pressure and blood parameters in borderline hypertensive adolescents. Borderline hypertension was defined as systolic pressure ≧ 140mmHg or diastolic pressure ≧ 90mmHg. Twenty-two adolescents were recruited from the Kung Shan Institute of Technology at Taiwan Hsien and assigned randomly to three groups. Walking thirty minutes one time/per day included 8 adolescents (Group A), walking ten minutes three times/per day included 8 adolescents (Group B) and control group included 6 adolescents (Group C). Group C was asked to maintain their habitual lifestyle throughout the whole period of the study. The walking intensity was the heart rate 130-140 beats/minutes. The frequency of the exercise was three days a week for 12 weeks. All subjects underwent the following measurements: resting systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic BP (DBP), mean BP (MBP), triglyceride (TG), cholesterol total (TC), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), TC/HDL-C, Glucose (GC), and urea acid (UA) were evaluated before and at the end of this study. The data were analyzed by one-way ANOVA, pair t-test, and repeated two-way ANOVA to examine any changes after the training. The statistical significance was determined at the 0.05 level. The Group A, Group B resulted in a decrease in TC/HDL-C (p<0.05), but no significant changes were found in the Group C. The Group A’s resting SBP (-7.8mmHg), MBP (-5.6mmHg), DBP (-4.5mmHg), and the Group B’s MBP (-5.37mmHg), DBP (-5.5mmHg) decreased significant (p<0.05), but no significant changes in blood pressure were found in the Group C. These findings suggest that 12 weeks of different walking training can improve blood pressure and decrease TC/HDL-C in borderline hypertensive adolescents.