Some acute physiological responses of nature walkers to different altitudes

The aim of this study was to determine acute physiological responses of nature walkers such as, systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), heart rate (HR) and blood lactate (BLA) levels at different altitudes. 25 nature walkers voluntarily participated in the study. SBP, DBP, HR and BLA values of the subjects were measured in Erzincan (1,185 m), at the campsites of Kesis Mountain (2,800 m) and at the summit of Esence (3,549 m). The Bonferroni method, multivariate and test of Within-Subject Effect parametric tests were used in terms of a variance-covariance matrix. No statistically significant difference was found in SBP and DBP values (p>0,05).The summit BLA and HRvalues were found significantly higher (p<0.01) than lactate and HR values at the campsite and in Erzincan, the campsite values were found importantly higher than those in Erzincan (p<0.05, p<0.01 respectively).In conclusion, it was found that acute exposure to different altitudes causes an increase in HR and BLA, but did not make a significant impact on SBP and DBP. © Kamla-Raj 2015.