Aim: 

Since there are few scientific publications about Karate exercise, we decided to study the long-term effect of habitual vigorous Karate exercise on blood pressure, heart rate and their autonomic regulation by baroreflex.

Methods: 

In 50 young healthy normotensive men, 25 of them were advanced Karate practitioners for 10 years, (range of 5-15 years) (KP) age 26 ± 6 years, and 25 untrained sedentary men (S) age of 26 ± 5 years (as age matched study), we studied beat-by-beat blood pressure (SBP and DBP in mmHg), the inter-beat-interval (IBI in ms.) of the heart rate and baroreflex sensitivity (BRS in ms/mmHg) by non-invasive methods.

Results: 

We found in (KP) versus (vs.) (S) that (Means ± SD): SBP 120.4 ± 12.4 vs. 117.6 ± 10.7 mmHg, p = 0.32 (non-significant); DBP 69.0 ± 7.6 vs. 70.5 ± 6.4 mmHg, p = 0.55 (non-significant); IBI 1024.7 ± 132.9 vs. 780.5 ± 100.0 ms, p = 0.0000001; BRS 15.20 ± 8.40 vs. 7.91 ± 3.77 ms/mmHg, p = 0.00014.

Conclusion: 

The SBP and DBP do not differ in the Karate-practitioners compared with the sedentary men but the IBI and the BRS in the (KP) are higher than in the (S). These results support the concept that habitual vigorous Karate exercise does modulate the baroreflex regulation of blood pressure to produce normal haemodynamics during rest in healthy subjects accompanied by increasing parasympathetic activity, all of which is recommended for the well-being of anyone.