Daniel Goeder has received the promotional award from the German High Pressure League (DHL) and has been distinguished for "sport and non-medicinal therapy of hypertension". The prize is endowed with 1,200 euros and was assigned for the master's thesis of the student. This was completed by Goeder at the Chair for Preventive Pediatrics under Full Prof. Dr. Renate Oberhoffer. This final paper was supervised by Dr. Jan Müller. Goeder examined how a single, high-performance physical load has influences on the peripheral and the central blood pressure within the following 24 hours.
The prize was awarded in the course of the 41st Scientific Congress of the DHL. A total of approximately 4,000 scientists participated at this meeting. "This award shows how important the topic is and how little is actually known about this. That the prize has been awarded by this renowned society is a special appreciation for the work of Daniel Goeder," says Prof. Oberhoffer. "A great number of science prizes in this field are only awarded per se to members of the medical profession. If a sport scientist is distinguished here, that is always also a kind of knightly accolade," states Dr. Mueller, his counselor. The winner himself was "very pleased about this honor. To receive a science award for a master's thesis is not very common."
Blood pressure: Lowering through movement and sport
Around 20-30 million German citizens suffer from high blood pressure (hypertension). The illness is considered to be a substantial risk factor for cardiovascular illnesses and is thereby one of the most important influential factors for the most frequent causes of death in adults. A value of 120/80 mmHg is considered to be normal. "We know from studies that the blood pressure can be affected positively by movement and sport - in the sense of a lowering of the pressure. This is unfortunately forgotten again and again so that a medicinal treatment is begun to obtain such a decrease in pressure instead of only changing the life-style to achieve a lower pressure through more sport and movement," explains Oberhoffer.
Study on influencing the central systolic blood pressure
However, how does physical performance actually affect the blood pressure? A first answer to this question is to be found in the master's thesis of Goeder. This graduate at the master's course of studies in "Movement and Health" analyzed 25 male test subjects. Each of the test subjects first carried out a maximum physical performance. For this purpose, the participants rode a bicycle ergometer for eight to twelve minutes with a steadily increasing resistance. All investigations were performed in the morning between nine and ten o'clock, so that the test subjects could thereafter complete their normal daily routine. Over the following 24 hours, by means of ambulatory blood-pressure measurements performed every 30 minutes during the course of the day and every 60 minutes during the night, the peripheral systolic and central systolic blood pressure as well as the pulse were measured. "The peripheral blood pressure is classically performed using a cuff on the upper arm. Innovative, however, is the value of the central blood pressure, which reflects the blood pressure in the aorta, and was performed, not invasively, but instead using an indirect procedure calculated with the aid of the pulse curve. For the prognosis of the therapeutic process as well as the risk connected with the illness, this is more significant," elucidates Müller. Significant decrease in the central blood pressure "The primary result was a difference between the peripheral and the central blood pressure during the course of the day. While the peripheral pressure hardly changed as a result of the physical load, we could prove that there was a significant decrease in the central blood pressure as compared with the value while resting," explains Goeder. The minimum was reached after two hours. At this time the central blood pressure had dropped, on the average, by around 8 mmHg. "Only little information is available to date on this research topic. We are presently carrying out a similar study on a group of women in order to determine whether similar results are to be found here," says Müller. In the future, for example, the effects of an attraction to training during a longer period of time or which effects a high-intensity training or a strength training have can be pursued further. On this basis, further recommendations can then be derived, as to how the blood pressure can be affected optimally through sports. For those affected, this could mean that they might be able to do without tablets in the future.
To Homepage of the Chair for Preventive Pediatrics
To Homepage of the German High Pressure League
Contact:
Dr. Jan Müller
Chair of Preventive Pediatrics
Uptown Munich, Campus D
Georg-Brauchle Ring 60/62
80992 Munich
Telephone: 089 289 24575
Email: J.Mueller(at)tum.de
Text: Fabian Kautz
Photos: K.I.T. Group GmbH; Kautz