The intraocular pressure lowering-effect of low-intensity aerobic exercise is greater in fitter individuals: a cluster analysis

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to determine the influence of physical fitness level and sex on intraocular pressure (IOP) during the low-intensity aerobic exercise. Forty-four participants (twenty-two men) cycled 30 minutes at low intensity (10% of the maximal power). Maximal power was determined by asking participants to perform maximal sprints of 6 seconds against 3–4 different resistances separated by 3 minutes of rest. The IOP was measured on 9 occasions (1) prior to the warm-up, (2) after the warm-up, (3–7) every 6 minutes during the low-intensity cycling task, and (8–9) 5 and 10 minutes after the cycling task. Low-intensity aerobic exercise had a lowering effect on IOP, being the beneficial effect more accentuated and prolonged in the High-fit group (IOP reduction compared to baseline lasted 30 minutes) than in the Low-fit group (IOP was only reduced at 6 minutes of exercise compared to baseline). Participants´ sex had no effect on the IOP behaviour at any time point (p = 0.453). These findings indicate that individuals who need to reduce IOP levels (i.e., glaucoma patients or those at risk) should increase or maintain a high fitness level to benefit more from the IOP lowering effect during low-intensity aerobic exercises.

KEYWORDS:

• Cycling
• physical fitness
• eye health

Acknowledgments

This work was performed under the projects 451-03-68/2020-14/200015 and 451-03-68/2020-14/200021 assigned from the Ministry of education, science and technological development of Republic of Serbia.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author (AGR), upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.