Background
Senescence is a spontaneous and progressive degenerative process that irreversibly lowers an individual physical and psychological capacity. Older adults are especially vulnerable since their bodies are significantly degenerated (Elias et al., 2018). For instance, their organs lose a significant amount of their functioning capacity, thus increasing their risks for developing associated risks with common chronic conditions like cardiovascular diseases, presenting as hypertension (Parekh et al., 2017). Furthermore, these conditions share risk factors and comorbidities. For example, older adults are more likely to develop a stiffening of their major arteries as they advance in age, increasing their predisposition to isolated systolic hypertension which can lead to severe health problems (Chirinos et al., 2019). Kazeminia et al. (2020) conducted a systematic literature review and meta-analysis of published literature between 1992 and 2019 and established that hypertension is one of the most common causes of atherosclerosis among older adults in industrial countries. Furthermore, half of the older adults diagnosed but not treated for hypertension die from coronary artery diseases, 33% from stroke, and the rest due to renal complications (Kazeminia et al., 2020).
This proposal aims to study the impact of aerobic exercise on reducing the systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Aerobic exercise extracts energy in the muscles through aerobic metabolism. It has been established that aerobic exercise creates desirable influences on cardiac remodelling, insulin resistance, lipid metabolism, and post-MI heart failure, among others (Tian & Meng, 2019). However, there is a high diversity of the types of exercise regimens older adults can engage in, each with different impact on their systolic and diastolic pressure. Dong et al. (2020) established that compared to no exercise regimen, Tai Chi has a significant influence in lowering systolic and diastolic pressures (95% CI). However, they also established no significant differences between Tai Chi and other aerobic exercises. This paper proposes to study the impact of walking (as a form of aerobic exercise) on lowering the blood pressure (diastolic and systolic) of older adults.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Significance
Aerobic exercise regimens, such as walking, are categorized as non-pharmacological interventions against hypertension in different populations, especially older adults. However, they are not the only intervention. There are diverse pharmacological interventions that are currently used to control hypertension among older adults. However, they are relatively expensive. On the other hand, aerobic exercises are preferred in older adults to prevent the chances of interference with other medications where the side-effects are unknown or are known to pose extra risks on the patients (Kazeminia et al., 2020). Furthermore, adverse reactions to pharmacological interventions are eliminated using aerobic exercises. The outcome is an improvement in the patient’s quality of life and patient outcomes.
The significance of the proposed study is that it will establish evidence on the role walking plays in reducing systolic and diastolic blood pressure in older adults. The information will be used to establish evidence-based practice guidelines and interventions. This proposal is also significant to literature because it will fill in the knowledge gap on the effectiveness of walking in controlling hypertension. The outcome of the proposed research will either conflict or be consistent with existing studies, either of which will be a significant contribution to the body of knowledge.
Research Question
The research question to be explored in the proposed research is formatted as a PICO question as follows: Among older adults (65+ years), what is the effectiveness of walking as a form of aerobic exercise on lowering systolic and diastolic pressure as compared to no exercise regimen.
References
Chirinos, J. A., Segers, P., Hughes, T., & Townsend, R. (2019). Large-artery stiffness in health and disease: JACC state-of-the-art review. Journal of the American College of Cardiology , 74 (9), 1237-1263.
Dong, X., Ding, M., & Yi, X. (2020). Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials of the Effects of Tai Chi on Blood Pressure. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine , 2020 .
Elias, R., Hartshorn, K., Rahma, O., Lin, N., & Snyder-Cappione, J. E. (2018, August). Aging, immune senescence, and immunotherapy: a comprehensive review. In Seminars in oncology (Vol. 45, No. 4, pp. 187-200). WB Saunders.
Kazeminia, M., Daneshkhah, A., Jalali, R., Vaisi-Raygani, A., Salari, N., & Mohammadi, M. (2020). The Effect of Exercise on the Older Adult’s Blood Pressure Suffering Hypertension: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis on Clinical Trial Studies. International Journal of Hypertension , 2020 .
Parekh, N., Page, A., Ali, K., Davies, K., & Rajkumar, C. (2017). A practical approach to the pharmacological management of hypertension in older people. Therapeutic advances in drug safety , 8 (4), 117-132.
Tian, D., & Meng, J. (2019). Exercise for prevention and relief of cardiovascular disease: prognoses, mechanisms, and approaches. Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity , 2019 .
