Minson, ChristopherSerrano, Madison2024-08-302024-08-302024https://hdl.handle.net/1794/30003BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains a leading cause of death both within the United States as well as worldwide. Hypertension (HTN), or high blood pressure, is a primary yet modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Exercise (EX) is considered the gold-standard lifestyle intervention for improving blood pressure, but many people are unable or unwilling to engage in traditional exercise training. Heat therapy (HT) represents a potential alternative to exercise for its ability to improve blood pressure and reduce cardiovascular disease risk. PURPOSE: This study was completed to compare the efficacy of heat water immersion (HWI) to the gold-standard EX in improving high blood pressure in adults with untreated hypertension. METHODS: Forty-one adults with HTN were block randomized between two intervention groups; HWI and EX. Subjects completed 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring before intervention, after 15 sessions, and at the conclusion of 30 sessions of their given intervention. Statistical analysis included a series of two-way repeated measures analysis of variance with main effects of group and time (alpha=0.05). RESULTS: Total 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure was not significantly different between or within groups over time (p>0.05) Despite no significant main or interaction effects, these interventions appear to have disparate effects on nighttime blood pressure. SBP was reduced to a lesser extent from waking to sleeping following EX in post measurements in comparison to mid-point measurements (p<0.05). The mid-point awake SBP of dippers in the EX intervention were higher than the mid-point measurements of the HWI group. Asleep SBP of non-dippers were significantly higher in post measurements in comparison to pre-measurements (p<0.01). Similarly, Asleep DBP of non-dippers were significantly higher in post measurements in comparison to pre-measurements (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Neither EX nor HWI proved to be statistically significant interventions for lowering blood pressure in adults with untreated hypertension.en-USCC BY-NC-ND 4.0Human PhysiologyHypertensionAmbulatory Blood PressureHot water immersionHeat therapyThesis/Dissertation0009-0003-9926-8217