[Decreasing blood pressure in essential hypertension with physical training]

Eighty-eight patients with the stage 1 hypertension according to the WHO classification exercised on a bicycle ergometer for 30 min daily at the heart rate 130-140 beats/min for 28 days. In 42% of the patients the systolic pressure at rest, during exercise, and in the recovery period decreased significantly; in 58% of them the systolic pressure did not sink. The diastolic pressure during exercise sank in those patients whose systolic pressure was reduced by the effect of the exercise, whereas in those patients who did not respond to exercise by a reduction of the systolic pressure, the diastolic pressure did not change, either. The following indicators differentiated the responders and non-responders to exercise: height of systolic pressure during exercise and recovery period, height of diastolic pressure at rest, disturbed glycide metabolism, presence of hypertension in the family history, sports in anamnesis and cardiac index.