DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2018.v06i10.035

Pages: 3857-3862

Hypertension is a major silent disease affecting young people because of their hereditary connections and sedentary lifestyle. Hence, the need for change in the lifestyle to prevent future morbidity becomes important. The present study was planned to evaluate the effect of 12-weeks isometric handgrip (IH) exercise training on cardiac autonomic activity in offsprings of hypertensive parents. 50 subjects of age group between 18 to 26 years with positive family history of hypertension were included in the study and isometric handgrip (IH) training was imparted to them 4 days a week for a total of 12-weeks. The exercise training protocol consisted of four sets of 3 minutes IH contractions with dominant arm at 30% of the maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) and each set was separated by 3 minutes rest pause. Cardiovascular and Heart Rate Variability (HRV) parameters were recorded before and after 12-weeks of IH training. The pre and post-exercise training data was compared by student paired t-test and the level of significance was set at P<0.05. It was observed that the cardiovascular parameters (heart rate and blood pressure) of the subjects were reduced after IH training but only systolic blood pressure was reduced significantly. The time domain parameters of HRV were found to be insignificantly high after exercise training. Among frequency domain parameters, the mean values of LF and LFnu were significantly decreased whereas mean values of HF and HFnu were insignificantly increased 12-weeks post-exercise training. The LF/HF ratio also decreased but not significantly. IH exercise training resulted in improvement of cardiac autonomic activity in the form of decreased sympathetic activity and increased parasympathetic activity in offsprings of hypertensive parents. A lifestyle change such as isometric exercise may play a role in preventing hypertension in these genetically predisposed individuals.