Finding time to exercise every day can be difficult for many people, but a new study of nearly 15,000 men and women found that adding just five minutes of activity to get your heart rate up can lower your blood pressure. I found it to be sufficient.
An international research team led by the University of Sydney (USyd) and University College London (UCL) found that doing any type of exercise, even for five minutes each day, such as climbing stairs, cycling or jogging, can reduce your contractions. We found that it may be effective in lowering both systolic and systolic blood pressure. Blood pressure (SBP) decreases by approximately 0.68 mm Hg and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) decreases by approximately 0.54 mm Hg.
The top number in a blood pressure measurement, SBP, relates to the pressure the arteries experience during each heart beat, and the bottom number, DBP, refers to the amount of pressure in the arteries between beats. Masu.
“High blood pressure is one of the biggest health problems worldwide, but unlike the leading cause of death from cardiovascular disease, there may be relatively accessible ways to address the problem in addition to medication.” ” said American University professor Emmanuel Stamatakis, co-author of the study. Director of the ProPASS (Prospective Physical activity, Sitting and Sleep) consortium: “The finding that just 5 minutes of extra exercise per day can significantly lower blood pressure readings suggests that more intense exercise It emphasizes how powerful it can be in a short period of time for blood pressure control.”
Hypertension affects approximately 1.28 billion adults worldwide and is a significant contributing factor to stroke, heart attack, and heart failure. In addition to medication, dietary and lifestyle interventions are important in managing high blood pressure, but exercise can be difficult for a variety of reasons, including time constraints and fitness levels.
In the study, 14,761 people from five countries were tasked with wearing a thigh accelerometer device that measured their activity level and blood pressure throughout the day and night. Daytime activities were categorized into six categories: sleep, sedentary behavior (sitting), slow walking, fast walking, standing, and more strenuous exercise (e.g., running, cycling, climbing stairs) .
Using the data they collected, the research team looked at how replacing one of these six behaviors with another affected blood pressure. They found that replacing sedentary behavior with more intense exercise had the greatest benefits, which was no surprise.
Although clinically significant blood pressure changes were produced by 20 to 27 minutes of additional exercise (approximately 2 mmHg for SBP and 1 mmHg for DBP), as little as 5 minutes a day was enough to turn the dial.
“Our findings suggest that for most people, exercise, rather than less strenuous exercise such as walking, is the key to lowering blood pressure,” said lead author and lead author from UCL’s Department of Surgery and Interventional Sciences. said Dr. Joe Blodgett. The news is that no matter what your physical abilities are, it doesn’t take long to positively impact your blood pressure. What is unique about our exercise variable is that it includes all exercise-like activities, such as running to catch the bus or short cycling errands. Many of them can be incorporated into daily life.
“For people who don’t do much exercise, walking had a positive effect on blood pressure,” she added. However, if you want to change your blood pressure, increasing the load on your cardiovascular system through exercise will have the greatest effect. ”
These findings suggest that while sedentary behavior had a negative impact on SBP and DBP, walking and standing did not make things worse and ended up being much better. Ta. However, if you take 5 minutes to walk up a hill, your heart rate will increase and you may reap the benefits of a more “intense” workout.
The six categories the researchers modeled also showed that sleep had a positive impact on blood pressure, meaning that getting some shut-eye is better for your heart health than sitting on the couch in front of the TV. It suggests that it is of value.
“However, significant time reallocation from sedentary behavior to sleep was required to produce clinically meaningful blood pressure reductions (e.g., 2 hours and 50 minutes for SBP and 2 hours and 50 minutes for DBP). 1 hour and 46 minutes),” the researchers noted in the study. . “Our findings show that in a free living environment, more time spent on activities like exercise has the strongest association with blood pressure, and that even small changes in daily movement patterns can produce clinically meaningful improvements. This proves that it is possible to bring out
Of course, consult your doctor before making any changes to your daily routine. Also, if activities like cycling, hiking, or climbing stairs are not possible, try to find alternatives that get your heart rate up.
The study was published in the journal Circulation.
Source: University of Sydney
