124 JEPonline Dancing is More Effective than Treadmill Walking for Blood Pressure Reduction in Hypertensive Elderly Women Francisco Eric Sousa¹, Edilson Francisco Nascimento¹, Luiz Rodrigues Souza¹, Rafael Reis Olher¹, Michel Kendy Souza¹, Rodrigo Vanerson Passos Neves¹, Thiago Santos Rosa¹, Marilda Teixeira Mendes¹, Luiz Henrique Peruchi², Herbert Gustavo Simões¹, Tania Mara Vieira Sampaio¹, Milton Rocha Moraes¹ ¹Graduate Program on Physical Education, Catholic University of Brasília, Brazil, ²Department of Physical Education, University of Mogi das Cruzes, Mogi das Cruzes, Brazil ABSTRACT Sousa FEV, Nascimento EF, Souza LHR, Olher RR, Souza MK, Neves RVP, Rosa TS, Mendes MT, Peruchi LH, Simões HG, Sampaio TMV, Moraes MR. Dancing is More Effective than Treadmill Walking for Blood Pressure Reduction in Hypertensive Elderly Women. JEPonline 2016;19(1):124-134. The purpose of this study was to investigate the cardiovascular effects of dancing and walking, and the biochemical mechanisms involved in each. Ten hypertensive elderly women (64.5 ± 5.1 yrs) were submitted to three session that consisted of 60 min of intervention with a 72-hr interval between each condition. Systolic blood pressure (SBP) was monitored before, during, and at 60 min post-exercise recovery (Rec). Blood lactate (lac) and nitric oxide (NO2¯) were measured at rest and at 60 min Rec. Only the dance session increased lac levels (∆ = + 0.79 mM, P<0.05) and reduced SBP at the 30th-min of Rec (∆ = -15 ± 4 mmHg, P<0.05) when compared to pre-exercise resting values. NO2¯ increased immediately post-exercise for both exercise sessions (P<0.05). There were no significant differences within and between the control and walking sessions for the post-exercise NO2¯ (P>0.05). The findings indicate that dancing was more effective than treadmill walking in reducing SBP in elderly women with controlled hypertension. Key Words: Dance, Older, Post-hypotension, Lactate, Nitric Oxide Journal of Exercise Physiologyonline January 2016 Volume 19 Number 1 Editor-in-Chief Tommy Boone, PhD, MBA Review Board Todd Astorino, PhD Julien Baker, PhD Steve Brock, PhD Lance Dalleck, PhD Eric Goulet, PhD Robert Gotshall, PhD Alexander Hutchison, PhD M. Knight-Maloney, PhD Len Kravitz, PhD James Laskin, PhD Yit Aun Lim, PhD Lonnie Lowery, PhD Derek Marks, PhD Cristine Mermier, PhD Robert Robergs, PhD Chantal Vella, PhD Dale Wagner, PhD Frank Wyatt, PhD Ben Zhou, PhD Official Research Journal of the American Society of Exercise Physiologists ISSN 1097-9751 Official Research Journal of the American Society of Exercise Physiologists ISSN 1097-9751