A relatively small amount of rigorous exercise each day has been found to be enough to lower blood pressure.
A joint research project between the University of Sydney and University College London found that just five minutes of activity a day had the potential to reduce blood pressure.
Replacing sedentary behaviours with 20-27 minutes of exercise was estimated to lead to a “clinically meaningful” reduction in pressure.
The research was based on data from more than 14,000 volunteers and was published in the latest Circulation journal.
Joint senior author Professor Emmanuel Stamatakis, Director of the ProPASS Consortium from the Charles Perkins Centre, said the findings suggested relatively simple remedies were available to help combat blood pressure.
“High blood pressure is one of the biggest health issues globally, but unlike some major causes of cardiovascular mortality there may be relatively accessible ways to tackle the problem in addition to medication,” he said in a statement.
“The finding that doing as little as five extra minutes of exercise per day could be associated with measurably lower blood pressure readings emphasises how powerful short bouts of higher intensity movement could be for blood pressure management.”
Hypertension, or a consistent elevated blood pressure level, impacts around 1.28 billion people globally and is one of the biggest causes of premature death globally.
It can lead to stroke, heart attack, heart failure and kidney damage.
The research team asked each participant to wear an accelerometer device on their thigh to measure their activity and blood pressure throughout the day and night.
First author Dr Jo Blodgett said the findings suggested that, for most people, strenuous exercise was key to reducing blood pressure, rather than less strenuous forms of movement such as walking.
“The good news is that whatever your physical ability, it doesn’t take long to have a positive effect on blood pressure,” she said.
“What’s unique about our exercise variable is that it includes all exercise-like activities, from running for a bus or a short cycling errand, many of which can be integrated into daily routines.
“For those who don’t do a lot of exercise, walking did still have some positive benefits for blood pressure. But if you want to change your blood pressure, putting more demand on the cardiovascular system through exercise will have the greatest effect.”
The full report is on the University of Sydney website.
