Objective: To verify if acute intake of beetroot juice potentiates post-exercise hypotension (PEH) in hypertensive postmenopausal women. Methods: Thirteen hypertensive postmenopausal women (58.1 ± 4.62 years and 27.4 ± 4.25 kg/m²) were recruited to participate in three experimental sessions, taking three different beverages: Beetroot juice (BJ), placebo nitrate-depleted BJ (PLA), and orange flavored non-caloric drink (OFD). The participants performed moderate aerobic exercise training on a treadmill, at 65–70% of heart rate reserve (HRR), for 40 min. After an overnight fast, the protocol started at 07h when the first resting blood pressure (BP) was measured. The beverage was ingested at 07h30 and BP was monitored until the exercise training started, at 09h30. After the end of the exercise session, BP was measured every 15 min over a 90-min period. Saliva samples were collected at rest, immediately before and after exercise, and 90 min after exercise for nitrite (NO₂⁻) analysis. Results: There was an increase in salivary NO₂⁻ with BJ intake when compared to OFD and PLA. A slight increase in salivary NO₂⁻ was observed with PLA when compared to OFD (p < 0.05), however, PLA resulted in lower salivary NO₂⁻ when compared to BJ (p < 0.001). There were no changes in salivary NO₂⁻ with the OFD. Systolic and diastolic BP decreased (p < 0.001) on all post exercise time points after all interventions, with no difference between the three beverages. Conclusion: Acute BJ intake does not change PEH responses in hypertensive postmenopausal women, even though there is an increase in salivary NO₂⁻.

Background/Objectives: The use of buoyant equipment in water fitness sessions appears to elicit a more intense physiological response in water exercises. However, it remains unknown whether the shape of the equipment influences these responses. The present study aimed to analyze and compare the physiological responses and perceived effort while older women using different buoyant dumbbells during horizontal adduction/abduction of the upper limbs (HA exercise). Methods: Ten older women (76.1 ± 5.3 years of age) attended two assessment sessions to perform HA exercise at a music cadence of 120 bpm with different buoyant dumbbells (one pair for each session): round hydro and hydro crystal. Mean heart rate (HR), systolic and diastolic blood pressures (SBP and DBP, respectively), double product (DPr), blood lactate concentration ([La⁻), and rate of perceived effort (RPE) were assessed according to pre-exercise (rest), warm-up and the HA exercise (five min effort). Results: The mean HR was also analyzed according to the percentage (%) of the predicted maximal theoretical HR (HRmax). Older women reached ~56 and 61% of HRmax using crystal and round dumbbells, respectively. Differences were found in mean HR, [La⁻], and RPE with the round dumbbell showing greater values than the crystal dumbbell. Although no differences were found in SBP and DBP, DPr was higher when women used the round dumbbells. Conclusions: The shape of buoyant dumbbells seems to define acute responses of older women as the round dumbbell promotes a more intense physiological response and perceived effort when compared to the crystal dumbbell.

Cardiometabolic multimorbidity is highly prevalent among postmenopausal women and is associated with adverse metabolic outcomes and a greater burden of climacteric symptoms. This secondary analysis of a quasi-experimental controlled clinical trial investigated the effects of a 12-week aerobic training program on climacteric symptoms, menopause-related quality of life, body composition, and cardiometabolic biomarkers in postmenopausal women with and without cardiometabolic multimorbidity. Forty-one postmenopausal women (50–70 years) were allocated to a single-cardiometabolic-condition group (SINGLE, n = 18) or a multimorbidity group (MULTI, n = 23) and completed supervised walking/jogging aerobic exercise three times per week at 65–75% of heart rate reserve. Climacteric symptoms, quality of life, anthropometric measures, body composition, and biochemical markers were assessed before and after the intervention. Generalized Estimating Equations (GEEs) with Bonferroni post hoc adjustment were used to compare group, time and group*time interactions with alpha of 5%. Significant group-by-time interactions were observed for the Menopause Rating Scale total score and psychological symptoms, as well as for the Cervantes Scale total score, indicating greater improvements among women with multimorbidity. The MULTI group demonstrated significant reductions in overall menopausal symptoms, psychological symptoms, and menopause-related quality of life scores following training. Body weight, triglycerides, and very-low-density lipoprotein cholesterol also decreased significantly only in the MULTI group, whereas several body composition parameters improved over time regardless of cardiometabolic burden. These findings indicate that aerobic training may be associated with improvements in menopausal symptoms, quality of life, body composition, and selected cardiometabolic markers in postmenopausal women, with some outcomes showing greater changes among women with cardiometabolic multimorbidity.