A Single Ride, a Lasting Drop: Exercise Lowers Ambulatory BP in High-Risk Young Adults Family history of hypertension is a strong non-modifiable risk factor, and young adults with a hypertensive parent often already show higher blood pressure burden and impaired autonomic markers before clinical hypertension appears. In this randomized crossover study of 20 non-hypertensive young adults with a family history of hypertension, participants completed both a control session and a single 30-minute cycling session at 50–60% heart rate reserve, with 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure and heart rate variability measured after each condition.
Moderate aerobic exercise produced a modest but significant ambulatory hypotensive effect, reducing systolic blood pressure by about 2 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure by about 2 mmHg across the full 24 hours, with the effect present during both awake and…
