Background: The purpose of present study was to determine the acute effects of different aerobic exercise duration on pulse wave velocity (PWV) in healthy young men.
Methods: One week after measuring peak oxygen uptake to determine the duration of each exercise trial, 11 healthy males (age: 23.4±0.6 years, height: 172.5±2.3 cm, weight: 64.1±2.4 kg) cycled on an ergometer for 15 (15 min-EX), 30 (30 min-EX) and 45 minutes (45 min-EX) at 65% peak oxygen uptake in random order. After supine rest for at least 15 minutes, aortic (carotid-femoral) and leg (femoral-ankle) PWV were measured before and at 30, 60 and 90 minutes after each exercise trial.
Results: Compared with before exercise trials, aortic PWV decreased at 30 minutes after 15, 30 and 45 min-EX (P<0.05, P<0.01 and P<0.05, respectively) and persisted for 60 minutes after 30 and 45 min-EX (P<0.05), leg PWV decreased at 30 minutes after 15, 30 and 45 min-EX (P<0.01) and persisted for 60 minutes after 30 and 45 min-EX (P<0.01, respectively).
Conclusions: These results suggest that PWV might be further decreased into recovery with prolonged exercise.