Self-selected exercise intensity for inactive hypertensive older women: a pilot study

Self-selected exercise intensity (SSE) is a simple approach to encourage an active lifestyle. This study aimed to investigate whether a SSE intensity session meet the recommended intensity for hypertension management (i.e. moderate-vigorous), and whether heart rate (HR), rating of perceived exertion (RPE) and affective responses are reproducible. Thirteen inactive hypertensive older women (age: 64.54 ± 4.16 years; blood pressure: 122.51/62.15 mmHg) performed two 30-minute SSE intensity sessions outdoors. HR reserve (HRR), RPE and affective responses were assessed. Paired t-test, intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and typical error (TE) were used for the analyzes. Participants exercised at moderate-vigorous intensity (≥ 40% of HRR). No differences were found for HRR (56.46 ± 8.01% vs. 59.08 ± 10.57%), RPE (11.26 ± 1.14 vs. 10.98 ± 1.52) and affective response (3.47 ± 1.13 vs. 3.38 ± 1.23) (p > 0.05). RPE showed excellent reliability (ICC = 0.82; 95%CI: 0.42; 0.94; p = 0.003). There was a poor reliability for HRR (ICC = 0.40; 95%CI: -0.97; 0.82; p = 0.193) and affective responses (ICC = 0.19; 95%CI: -2.10; 0.76; p = 0.369). TE between sessions for HRR, RPE, and affective response were 8.11 bpm, 0.75 and 1.11, respectively. In conclusion, inactive hypertensive older women seem to meet the recommended intensity for hypertension management when they exercise at a self-selected pace and report it as light-moderate and pleasant. Despite only RPE, but not HR and affective response, has shown good reproducibility, the results seem to support the use of SSE intensity as a simple approach to encourage an active lifestyle in this population.