Open AccessRelationship between aerobic fitness, blood pressure and life satisfaction
Author(s) -
Attila Szabó,
Tamás M. Bőhm,
Ferenc Köteles
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
baltic journal of health and physical activity
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2080-1297
pISSN - 2080-9999
DOI - 10.29359/bjhpa.12.2.01
Subject(s) - cardiorespiratory fitness , optimism , blood pressure , pessimism , life satisfaction , psychology , multivariate analysis of variance , analysis of variance , ambulatory blood pressure , multivariate statistics , physical therapy , medicine , statistics , social psychology , mathematics , philosophy , epistemology
Background: The aim of this work was to examine the extent to which cardiorespiratory fitness, blood pressure, and optimism/pessimism predict adults’ satisfaction with life. Material and methods: Sixty-eight adults seeking cardiovascular health screening in a private clinic were tested. Participants’ blood pressure, optimism/pessimism, and satisfaction with life were recorded. The YMCA cycle ergometer test was used for estimating participants’ aerobic fitness (VO2 max). Based on 140/90 mm Hg blood pressure cut-off value, participants were classified into two groups. Results: A bootstrapped hierarchical multivariate regression analysis revealed that VO2 max, systolic blood pressure, optimism, and pessimism jointly accounted for 46% of the variance (R2 = 0.501, R2 adjusted = 0.462) in life satisfaction. Furthermore, a bootstrapped multivariate analysis of covariance indicated that Stage 2 hypertensives reported lower life satisfaction (p = 0.007) than the others with lower blood pressure readings. Conclusions: This study is the first to reveal that almost half of the total variance in life satisfaction is accounted by cardiorespiratory fitness, systolic blood pressure, optimism, and pessimism. The present work also shows that individuals in Stage 2 hypertension are less satisfied with their lives than individuals with lower blood pressure values. These preliminary findings should stimulate both epidemiological and longitudinal research in the area.