Engagement in self-selected leisure activities was associated with a 0.54 effect size increase in diastolic blood pressure dipping compared to control days.
Does engagement in self-selected leisure activities improve nighttime blood pressure dipping in healthy young adults?
Engagement in self-selected leisure activities significantly improves nighttime diastolic blood pressure dipping in healthy young adults, which may help reduce future cardiovascular risk.
Absolute Event Rate: 0% vs 0%
An early indicator of future cardiovascular risk is lower levels of nighttime blood pressure (BP) dipping from day to night. Prior work has been limited to identifying health behaviors that can promote greater dipping. This pilot study proposes that one possible set of behaviors may be engagement in self-selected leisure activities (SSLAs, or freely chosen non-work activities that are performed with the purpose of relaxation and/or mental escape), which have been linked with reduced daily stress and general daily BP control. Healthy young adult college students N = 32; 78.1% (n = 25) female, 71.9% (n = 23) white, with an average body mass index (BMI) of 26.31 (SD = 2.46) visited our laboratory twice within approximately one week. At each visit, the participants were fitted with an ambulatory monitor to collect BP over 24 h. On each day, participants were randomly assigned to either engage in an agreed-upon SSLA or go about their day as usual, except to refrain from engaging in assigned SSLAs; compliance was verified by daily diaries. When accounting for BMI and race/ethnicity, the results showed a higher percentage of BP dipping on the SSLA versus control day for diastolic BP (d = 0.54). SSLAs may be associated with reduced future cardiovascular disease through a nighttime BP dipping effect.
Merritt et al. (Wed,) reported a other. Engagement in self-selected leisure activities was associated with a 0.54 effect size increase in diastolic blood pressure dipping compared to control days.