Experimental sessions (visits 3 and 4)
Participants attended the laboratory in two separate occasions to perform the experimental sessions (exercise and control). These sessions were performed in a temperature-controlled laboratory (20–22 °C) during the afternoon. Participants were instructed to avoid the intake of caffeinated and alcoholic beverages and not to perform strenuous exercise in the 24 h preceding the sessions. Additionally, they were instructed to have a light meal 2 h before the sessions. To avoid the confounding effects of different eating habits before the experimental sessions, participants completed a 24-hour food recall prior to the first experimental session and were asked to repeat a similar diet prior to the second session. Women of reproductive age performed the sessions on the first 7 days of their menstrual cycle, or during the inactive/placebo phase of the oral contraceptive pack for oral contraceptive pill users.The experimental sessions were composed by (a) pre-intervention assessments of BP and HR at rest and in response to different stress; (b) intervention (exercise or control); (c) post-intervention assessments of BP and HR at rest and in response to different stress and; (d) 24-h (out of the lab) ambulatory BP assessment. Importantly, participants remained seated at rest for 20 min between the intervention and the post-intervention assessments. Figure 