Hypertension is distributed across all socio-economic strata and ethnicities. Frequently asymptomatic yet associated with profound morbidity and mortality, it has for decades been the most prevalent cardiovascular disease and the principal contributor to all-cause mortality. Its prevalence continues to rise while awareness and control rates remain suboptimal, and by the sixth decade of life hypertension is not only more prevalent but also more severe and less well controlled in women.

The laboratory's primary line of inquiry characterizes the hemodynamic, vascular and autonomic mechanisms through which acute and chronic exercise lower blood pressure, the sources of inter-individual variability in that response, and the extent to which interventions such as antioxidant supplementation and sustained training preserve those adaptations. Drawing on the expertise of faculty across the university, the four programs below are methodologically and conceptually integrated.

• Exercise and blood pressure regulation

  The effects of acute bouts and short-term aerobic versus resistance training on arterial stiffness, baroreflex sensitivity, plasma aldosterone and resting hemodynamics in adults with prehypertension and stage 1 hypertension, with particular attention to sex differences in the vascular response.

  Arterial stiffness, baroreflex, aerobic vs. resistance training, sex differences

• Sleep, shift work and the autonomic nervous system

  The influence of exercise timing, alcohol ingestion and nocturnal shift scheduling on sleep architecture and nocturnal blood pressure, and the mechanisms by which chronic sleep disruption alters cardiovascular and autonomic function in first-responder populations.

  Firefighters and police officers, exercise timing, nocturnal blood pressure, ambulatory monitoring

• Cardiovascular health in youth and adolescents

  Cardiorespiratory fitness, arterial stiffness and cardiac autonomic modulation in adolescents and young athletes, from metabolomic and hemodynamic responses to supervised summer activity in overweight preadolescents to seasonal variation in sleep and heart rate among competitive gymnasts.

  Adolescent athletes, arterial stiffness, metabolomics, supervised activity programs

• Nutrition, supplementation and vascular function

  The capacity of dietary constituents and supplements, including whole blueberry powder, omega-3 fatty acids, flavonoids and grape polyphenols, to attenuate inflammation, improve arterial function and sustain post-exercise reductions in blood pressure.

  Antioxidants, inflammation, central blood pressure, arterial health

The laboratories are equipped with state-of-the-art instrumentation for the assessment of human vascular function, beat-to-beat blood pressure regulation and central autonomic modulation of heart rate. Because the research addresses conditions such as hypertension, cancer and atherosclerosis, members of the surrounding community participate directly in these trials. Complementing the core exercise investigations, the laboratories also examine the bidirectional relationships among exercise, sleep and blood pressure.

In addition to their research function, the facilities serve as teaching laboratories in which graduate and undergraduate students complete senior capstone projects and master's theses.

• Arterial stiffness and wave reflectionPulse-wave velocity, central blood pressure and augmentation indices
• Beat-to-beat blood pressureContinuous hemodynamics and baroreflex sensitivity at rest, during tilt and after exercise
• Heart rate variabilityCardiac autonomic modulation and recovery following exercise and training
• Endothelial functionFlow-mediated dilation and arterial distensibility
• Ambulatory blood pressure and sleep24-hour monitoring and sleep architecture in the field and the laboratory
• Wearable and consumer-device validationComparison of consumer monitors against gold-standard measures

The laboratory houses the Exercise Science Undergraduate Cardiovascular Research Team, which has produced a nationally recognized American Physiological Society Research Fellow and numerous internally and externally funded scholars. Current student projects examine cardiovascular function, endothelial health, sleep as a foundation of cardiometabolic health, and the effects of antioxidant supplementation on post-exercise blood pressure.

Students disseminate their work at conferences throughout the United States and in Italy, and many appear as co-authors on the publications listed below, where their names are indicated.